Clare Martin of Astroscale discusses the “throwaway” culture in space, how satellite companies can be more responsible, and its upcoming services.
CM: Our Japanese team is actually working on it. There is a program from JAXA called CRD2 - a two-stage mission whose ultimate end goal is to remove the spent rocket body from orbit. So the first stage is very much an inspection mission and is due to launch in Japanese fiscal year [20]22.
CM: Yes, absolutely. That is what we're here for. But I think I mean, space is just so vital to everything we do on the Earth now. It's involved in our communications, our banking, and our understanding of our climate. We should not be afraid to keep enhancing our lives on Earth by using what we have in space. So by thinking in terms of on-orbit servicing and logistics, and the responsible behaviors, that we're encouraging, as are others, you can absolutely achieve that balance.
CM: A very simple thing they can do now is to open their mind to what could be possible in the future. So if you try to move away from the throwaway culture and consider putting a docking plate on — just consider preparing it, it's very nonintrusive, affordable, easy to assemble, you don't even have to commit to how you would use it — but you're preparing yourself to be able to use these future services that could help you.
And then one of the big things that Astroscale supports and endorses — and what I think we really did demonstrate very well with our LCD mission — is transparency. If you have an anomaly, be open about it. Obviously, all space agencies - India, U.K., etc., have licensing regimes. And those regimes need to be able to keep up and evolve a little bit with the times in which everyone is working on.
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