The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a €119 million contract with Italian scale-up D-Orbit for its first in-orbit servicing mission, RISE.
Scheduled for launch in 2028, RISE will attempt to rendezvous with, maneuver and decouple from an ESA satellite in geostationary orbit. It will then embark on an eight-year mission during which it will visit several other satellites and breathe new life into them.
RISE, which is about the size of a minivan, will be like a car mechanic, only for an aging spaceship. It will refuel them, repair them, move them to a different orbit, and even connect them to a module that will handle their propulsion and navigation.
“Now that we are able to do so, we want to move away from single-use satellites and instead, as technologies advance, we want to start extending the lifespan of satellites and servicing them right where they are, in orbit around Earth said Andrew Wolahan, RISE project manager at ESA.
The space mechanic's first customer is likely to be a telecommunications satellite that is running low on fuel but is still able to continue connecting people around the world, ESA said. If successful, D-Orbit will be the first European company to demonstrate in-orbit services.
The
The latest rumors from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise old founder Boris and some questionable AI artwork. It's free in your inbox every week. Register now!
A circular economy in space
Filling up our car, driving it until it's empty, and then leaving it on the side of the road is not something we would do on Earth. But that's how things have been going in space for a long time. Not only is this expensive, but it is a leading cause of space debris.
RISE's goal is to extend the operational life of satellites and dispose of them safely so that they do not contribute to the growing cosmic traffic jam.
There are currently over 34,000 pieces Space Garbage larger than 10 centimeters circles our world. In addition, there are approximately 6,500 operational satellites in orbit, a number expected to exceed 27,000 by the end of the decade.
All of these objects increase the risk of collisions with other satellites, space stations or even others people on earth. If garbage accumulation continues at this rate, some regions of space will be destroyed could become unusable. And for those of us on Earth: the trash ruin our views of the cosmos.
In parallel to RISE, ESA is working with the Swiss startup ClearSpace on a debris removal mission. ClearSpace-1, scheduled to launch by 2026, aims to do this Actively remove a piece of space debris from orbit. Both RISE and ClearSpace-1 underline Europe's commitment to creating a circular economy in space.
The news comes just two weeks after D-Orbit announced it had closed a €150 million Series C financing roundone of the biggest space deals of the past year.
