Most of the rules written about orbital debris are about prevention: design satellites so they don't break apart, and bring them down when their work is done. Those rules matter. But they do not touch the dead hardware that is already up there. For that, someone has to go get it. The space industry calls this active debris removal.

This page is a plain-English look at what active debris removal means, why it is so hard, and who is actually working on it today. We focus on three public efforts that have shaped the field: Astroscale's ADRAS-J inspection mission for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency's ClearSpace-1 mission, and ESA's work on making future satellites easier to remove. We have tried to describe each one fairly and only as their own organizations describe them, and we link to those pages so you can check us. At the end is a short, modest note on where The Incognito concept might fit.

What "active debris removal" means

ESA describes active debris removal simply: it is the process of meeting a piece of space junk in orbit and removing it. A chaser spacecraft matches the orbit of the object to be removed. Once it has grabbed hold, which can mean dealing with a target that is tumbling, the two spacecraft together change their orbit, or even re-enter the atmosphere, so the object no longer threatens anyone.

That is different from the mitigation rules most people hear about. ESA's own debris requirements say satellites must vacate their valuable orbit at end of life, or within five years after that depending on the orbit. In the United States, the FCC adopted a similar five-year limit for many new low Earth orbit satellites; our explainer on the FCC 5-year deorbit rule covers it. ESA then asks the obvious question: what if a satellite is not able to leave under its own steam? Active debris removal is the answer for those cases, and for the older derelicts that were never covered by modern rules at all.

Why it is so hard

Grabbing something in orbit sounds simple until you think about what the target is. Most debris was never meant to be caught. ESA uses two words for this. An object is unprepared if it has no docking hardware, and uncooperative if it does nothing to help its own capture. A dead satellite or a spent rocket stage is usually both: no handle, no lights, no working attitude control, and possibly a slow tumble.

ESA is frank about the trade-offs. Removing objects like this takes carefully planned missions and operations, and ESA notes that "it does not come cheap and is not always possible depending on the piece of debris." That honesty is worth keeping in mind whenever anyone, including us, talks about cleaning up orbit.

Astroscale and ADRAS-J: getting close first

Astroscale, a company that builds spacecraft for services in orbit, was selected by JAXA as the commercial partner for Phase I of JAXA's Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration project, known as CRD2. Astroscale describes it as one of the world's first technology demonstrations aimed at removing large-scale debris from orbit.

Phase I was not about capture. Its spacecraft, ADRAS-J, was built to do something that had to come first: safely approach an existing piece of large debris and study it. Astroscale calls it the world's first attempt to approach and characterize an existing piece of large debris through rendezvous and proximity operations, and "the start of a full-fledged debris removal service."

The mission timeline Astroscale publishes shows how patient this work is:

  • ADRAS-J launched on February 18, 2024, on a Rocket Lab launch, and began its rendezvous phase a few days later.
  • Its target was a spent rocket upper stage. By April 17, 2024, it had approached within several hundred meters.
  • On May 23, 2024, it closed to within 50 meters and completed its first fixed-point observation.
  • In July 2024 it carried out its first fly-around observations and validated its collision avoidance system.
  • On November 30, 2024, its final approach reached 15 meters from the upper stage.
  • Astroscale reports that Phase I of CRD2 is complete, and on March 25, 2026, ADRAS-J began its own de-orbit operations.

Astroscale lists a follow-on mission, ADRAS-J2, on the same page. For us, the main lesson of ADRAS-J is the order of operations. Before anyone can safely remove a large, dead object, they have to find it, approach it without causing a collision, and learn how it is moving. That took months of careful work for a single target.

ESA's ClearSpace-1: the first planned removal

ClearSpace-1 is the European Space Agency's planned mission to remove a piece of debris from orbit. ESA describes it as the first mission that will rendezvous with, capture and safely bring down a satellite that was never designed for it.

The target is ESA's own PROBA-1 satellite, launched in 2001. ESA lists it at 95 kg and about 0.6 by 0.6 by 0.8 meters. The plan is to capture it with four robotic arms and bring it down for a safe atmospheric re-entry, clearing it out of its valuable low Earth orbit. ESA calls this the first-ever mission to remove an unprepared and uncooperative object from orbit, through "highly precise, complex, close proximity operations."

The mission was dreamt up by ESA's Clean Space team. ESA is developing it as an in-orbit demonstration, with OHB SE leading an industrial team that includes the Swiss company ClearSpace and other subcontractors. ESA currently lists the planned launch as 2029. It describes the goal as demonstrating the technologies needed for active debris removal, and as "a first step to establishing a new and sustainable commercial sector in space."

It is worth noticing that ESA chose to remove its own satellite first. That is a sensible way to start: the owner knows the object well, and there is no question about who has permission to touch it.

Designing satellites to be removed

The other half of ESA's approach is making the job easier for the future. ESA calls this design for removal. A satellite designed for removal carries two things: a standardized coupling interface that a removal craft can grab, and navigation aids that help the chaser judge distance, orientation and tumbling at close range. ESA compares the coupling idea to USB-C, one standard plug instead of many competing ones.

ESA is planning a demonstration called CAT, the Capture Payload Bay mission, to try these interfaces in orbit. The first passive coupling point, called MICE, has already flown on the LUR-1 satellite along with six navigation aids. ESA says four of the next-generation Copernicus satellites are also being fitted with these interfaces. As ESA describes it, CAT would capture a satellite, drag or push it low enough that atmospheric drag brings it down within the prescribed five years, then release it and move on to the next one.

All of this sits within ESA's Zero Debris approach, which aims for zero debris created by 2030.

What these efforts teach

Taken together, these programs make a few things clear:

  • Inspection comes before removal. ADRAS-J showed that just getting close to a large, dead object safely is a major mission on its own.
  • Uncooperative targets are the hard case. ClearSpace-1 exists because most derelicts were never built to be caught.
  • Serving more than one object matters. ESA's CAT concept is described as releasing one satellite and moving on to the next, which is the kind of route-based thinking any lasting cleanup will need.
  • It takes years and patience. These are careful, step-by-step programs run by serious teams, and they deserve credit for doing the hard first work.

Where The Incognito might fit

The Incognito is John Arwood's idea for a garbage truck in the sky: a self-sustaining orbital spacecraft concept for collecting and disposing of debris. It is a concept, not a flying prototype, and the design is patent pending. We are not claiming it is ahead of anyone. The missions above are real hardware and real operations; ours is an idea on paper.

As described on The Concept, the craft would use ion thrusters for efficient in-space travel, with an onboard nuclear reactor as its main power source and solar cells around the exterior as backup. It is meant to haul large debris, including objects larger than its own body, with thrusters across its exterior for the agility to approach uncooperative objects, and modular add-ons for different jobs. The proposed sequence is launch on a conventional rocket, travel to a target, capture it, lower its orbit so it burns up in the atmosphere, and then move on to the next object.

That last step is where John's background comes in. He has spent a working life in waste hauling, where the job is not one pickup but a route: many stops, done reliably, again and again. The space efforts above point the same way, toward services that can reach more than one object. The Incognito is one proposal for how that kind of route might work for the large derelicts that drive the Kessler syndrome risk. If it is ever built, it would build on lessons that teams like Astroscale, ESA and ClearSpace are learning now.

If your organization works on space sustainability, launch, or in-space services and would like to talk about acquisition, licensing, or a development partnership, please read For Partners & Acquirers.

Frequently asked questions

What is active debris removal?
It is the process of sending a spacecraft to meet a piece of debris in orbit, take hold of it, and move it to a safer orbit or bring it down to re-enter the atmosphere.

Has any mission removed a piece of space debris yet?
As ESA describes it, its ClearSpace-1 mission, planned for launch in 2029, will be the first mission to remove an unprepared, uncooperative piece of debris from orbit. Astroscale's ADRAS-J has already approached and studied a spent rocket stage up close, as Phase I of JAXA's debris removal demonstration.

Why not just require every satellite to deorbit itself?
Rules like the FCC's five-year limit and ESA's own requirements push in that direction for new satellites. But they do not remove old derelicts, and satellites that fail in orbit may not be able to leave on their own. That is the gap active removal is meant to fill.

Is The Incognito competing with Astroscale or ClearSpace?
We see it as one more idea in a field that will need many. The Incognito is a patent-pending concept with no prototype, and it has a lot to learn from the teams already flying missions.

Sources

  • European Space Agency, "Active debris removal" (December 16, 2024): esa.int.
  • European Space Agency, "ClearSpace-1" mission page: esa.int.
  • Astroscale, "ADRAS-J" mission page: astroscale.com.