Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6510
    -0.0008 (-0.12%)
     
  • OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    107,197.27
    -973.70 (-0.90%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • AUD/EUR

    0.6043
    +0.0008 (+0.14%)
     
  • AUD/NZD

    1.0903
    +0.0001 (+0.01%)
     
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    18,254.69
    -26.15 (-0.14%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     

Astroscale raises $109M for its on-orbit services technology

Japanese space startup Astroscale has raised $109 million in a new Series F round of financing, bringing the company's total funding raised to date to $300 million. The company specializes in on-orbit servicing technology, designed to help reduce the amount of debris that exists in operating orbital altitudes, and also to extend the life of existing satellites as a means of making orbital businesses more sustainable.

This new funding, led by Japan's THE FUND and including participation from investors including Seraphim Space, brings Astroscale's total funding to $300 million. The startup's CEO and founder Nobu Okada said in a press release that the new funds will help them scale and "dramatically accelerate [their] ability to make on-orbit servicing routine by 2030."

It's been a big year for Astroscale (Okada will be joining us on stage at TC Sessions: Space 2021 this year, by the way), with a successful tech demo of its end-of-life services product in August. The company still has a second part of that mission coming up before year's end, and it's also progressing with its plan to demonstrate orbital debris removal for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in a mission set for early next year.

Astroscale last raised $51 million in October 2020, the same year in which it acquired Effective Space Solutions, a company focused on servicing the large geostationary satellites that provide some key communications infrastructure on Earth.