ClearSpace-1 and Astroscale debris-removal missions

In the sources reviewed, no piece of real debris had been captured and removed from orbit. RemoveDEBRIS (2018–19) tested a net and a harpoon only on targets it carried itself. The European Space Agency (ESA) describes ClearSpace-1 as “the first mission to remove a piece of space debris from orbit”; its launch is planned for 2029.

ESA signed an €86 million service contract with ClearSpace, a Swiss start-up, on 13 November 2020 and announced it on 1 December 2020. ClearSpace was to raise about €24 million privately on top. The original target was the Vespa adapter left by Vega flight VV02 (2013), 112 kg, with launch in 2025. In April 2024 the target changed to ESA's PROBA-1 (95 kg, launched 2001) after other debris hit the Vespa. OHB SE became prime contractor and ClearSpace kept the capture operations. ClearSpace's chief executive said the company had raised about €130 million in total from commercial and government sources, including a €26.7 million Series A, was not yet profitable, and expected commercial revenue in 2026–28. A 2024 reorganisation was reported.

Astroscale listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth market (186A) on 5 June 2024 at ¥850, the top of its range; shares traded as high as ¥1,581. Bloomberg put its market capitalisation at about ¥155.4 billion ($995 million) at the close, and Seraphim put it at about ¥145 billion ($934 million) at the opening. For the financial year to April 2025, Space Intel Report gave revenue of about ¥2.46 billion (down 13.9%) and a backlog of about ¥30.7 billion. Aggregator listings show a financing of about ¥30 billion in June 2026 (convertible bonds plus a share placement) and a forecast net loss of ¥9.6–10.6 billion for FY2027.

Astroscale's missions had approached or inspected targets but had not captured real debris. ELSA-d (2021–2024) captured its own client satellite magnetically in August 2021; a January 2022 anomaly and the loss of 4 of its 8 thrusters stopped autonomous capture, and its closest approach afterwards was 159 m (May 2022). ADRAS-J, launched on 18 February 2024 for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), inspected a Japanese H-IIA upper stage without capturing it; its closest approach was about 15 m and the approach ended with an autonomous abort due to a “relative attitude anomaly”. JAXA's follow-on contract, ADRAS-J2, was signed on 20 August 2024 for about ¥13.2 billion (about $82 million) including tax, to capture and remove the same kind of H-IIA stage (about 11 m long, 3 t). Its launcher, Isar Spectrum, failed on its first flight in March 2025 and no launch date had been confirmed.

Governments are the contracting parties in the record. The UK Space Agency gave Astroscale £1.95 million for the next phase of COSMIC, aiming to remove two inactive UK satellites (11 September 2024), and co-funded ELSA-M through ESA and Eutelsat. The US Space Force signed a refuelling contract (APS-R) on 17 January 2024: it pays $25.5 million and Astroscale U.S. and partners about $12 million. A separate UK active-debris-removal mission was tendered at £63 million excluding VAT (£75.6 million including VAT), with £83.93 million approved by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; the award, due 30 March 2026, was delayed and no winner had been found by the UK Space Agency's July 2026 report.