Astroscale announces they have raised U.S. $76 million from new investors including Mitsubishi Electric and Yusaku Maezawa, bringing the total raised to U.S. $376 million.
This funding round demonstrates strong investor confidence in the stability, success and market leadership in the on-orbit services sector, despite the extremely challenging global economic climate.
“We are on a mission to make on-orbit servicing routine by 2030, and these funds will significantly contribute to further innovative technology development, global expansion and increased supply capacity to meet growing demand,” said Nobu Okada, Founder & CEO.
Yusaku Maezawa, the first Japanese civilian to visit the International Space Station, has become one of the main investors.
“As someone who has visited space, I understand the immense dangers posed by debris in orbit,” said Maezawa. “The promise of civilian space travel will begin with the dearMoon mission, but space tourism will not realize its full potential without a sustainable space environment. I strongly support Astroscale for its inspiring vision of sustainability, driven by their global thought leadership, innovative technologies and strong ties with governments around the world.”
Astroscale has agreed with Mitsubishi Electric to collaborate in developing & manufacturing sustainably designed satellite buses for Japanese national-security constellations.
This agreement is separate from, and in addition to, their U.S. $25 million investment in Series G funding round.
The Astroscale Ltd. SSA team has won funding from The UK MOD Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to explore space-based space domain awareness (SB-SDA) mission concepts for launch in the 2030s. Astroscale Ltd. formed the winning consortium teaming with Raytheon NORSS and SJE Space Ltd for the project.
Astroscale expresses their thrill to be part of a winning team that was awarded a $1.7 million contract by the U.S. Space Force as part of its Orbital Prime program. Led by Cislunar Industries, this newly funded collaboration project — a circular propulsion ecosystem based on the ability to recycle metal in space to enable enhanced satellite mobility — directly addresses the Space Force’s desire to make space operations more resilient.