In Japan, for the first time experienced the capture of a satellite in orbit
For the first time in history, the Japanese company Astroscale conducted an experiment to capture one satellite by another in near-earth orbit, NEWS.ru reports, citing a speech by company representatives delivered at the 36th space symposium in the American city of Colorado Springs.
In March, the Russian Soyuz rocket launched the ELSA-d demonstrator satellite into space to test technologies to remove space debris. According to the company's employees, the satellite was distanced from itself by the space debris simulator, and then again approached it in order to capture it with the help of a special magnet, Moskva 24 reports.
The small satellite was only a few centimeters away from the large one. It took several tens of seconds to carry out the experiment. However, the company believes that this is sufficient for testing the main technologies of the method.
“This is only the first step, but for us it is a big one,” a company spokesman said.
Earlier, the United States launched a satellite for the early detection of ballistic missile launches SBIRS GEO 5 into orbit.
