Tag:Outer Space Treaty
Roadside Service in the Final Frontier: The Compliance Void in On-Orbit Servicing
In 2024, a Japanese commercial satellite maneuvered to within 15 meters of a derelict piece of debris floating in low Earth orbit, a feat never accomplished by a private company – until now. Astroscale Holdings, operating under a contract with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed a precise series of approach maneuvers around a completely unresponsive object. This was a genuine technological milestone in the commercial space industry, and just a preview of an entire industry that existing legal frameworks were not built to govern or foresee.