Overview

Destination: Polar Orbit
Mission: Technology

ELSA-M (End of Life Services by Astroscale – Multiple) is Astroscale’s commercial satellite service designed to remove inactive satellites from orbit. It is the world's first End-of-Life (EOL) service for prepared, full-sized commercial end customers, harnessing magnetic capture for multiple satellite removals. The in-orbit demonstration mission is a partnership programme led by Astroscale and supported by the UK Space Agency, ESA, and the commercial satellite operator Eutelsat through the Sunrise Partnership Project, a public–private partnership between ESA and Eutelsat Group. The mission will safely approach and dock with a Eutelsat OneWeb communications satellite at its end of life, then remove it from orbit. This world first commercial ‘de-orbit as a service’ demonstration showcases the technologies and operational capability needed to reduce collision risk in Earth’s increasingly crowded Low Earth Orbit.