The ADRAS-J mission took this image of an upper stage rocket body during a fly-by in July 2024. Photo: Astroscale

Astroscale’s ADRAS-J mission completed its final approach of an abandoned rocket upper stage in space, approaching the large piece of debris at an approximately 15-meter distance.

Astroscale did not reach the intended final distance, but claims that this is the closest a commercial mission has ever approached a piece of space debris through rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO). Astroscale announced the milestone on Dec. 11. 

ADRAS-J launched in February of this year and got closer to the debris in successive rendezvous attempts — coming within several hundred kilometers in April, then coming within 50 and 20 meters in a series of fly-around observations in July. 

Astroscale reported that the ADRAS-J spacecraft maneuvered to a position 15 meters below the payload attach fitting, the planned capture point for a follow-on ADRAS-J1 mission. The spacecraft maintained its position, but the onboard collision avoidance system triggered an autonomous abort.

Astroscale said the abort was caused by an “unexpected relative attitude anomaly with the upper stage, and the spacecraft maneuvered away. Astroscale Japan is currently investigating the cause of the abort.

The overall ADRAS-J mission was the first phase of Japanese space agency JAXA’s Commercial Debris Removal Demonstration program, but Astroscale went beyond the mission requirements with this final approach. Data from the ADRAS-J mission will inform the follow-on ADRAS-J2 debris removal mission.