(MENAFN- Asia Times) TOKYO – Japanese venture companies EX-Fusion and Astroscale have entered in new space debris removal projects that will demonstrate the dual-use capabilities of their technologies and signal civilian-military fusion in the context of allied defense has arrived at Japan's space program.
Japanese laser energy specialist EX-Fusion and Australia's EOS Space Systems signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 8 to explore cooperation on space debris issues.
The collaborative goal, as reported by the Japanese media, is to develop technology capable of tracking space debris as small as three centimeters, which if accomplished would set a new precision standard for the identification of objects orbiting the Earth.
Headquartered in Canberra, EOS Space Systems is a prominent supplier of optical surveillance capabilities for space domain awareness.
Specializing in high-energy lasers for space object identification, characterization and tracking, remote maneuver and communications, the company is a division of Australian defense contractor Electro Optic Systems (EOS), which makes high-energy laser weapons.
EX-Fusion, headquartered in Osaka, aims to build the world's first laser-based nuclear fusion reactor. It is also adapting its high-power laser technology to other applications, including communications and space debris tracking and removal.
It has been collaborating with the Institute of Laser Engineering at the University of Adelaide on a high-intensity laser project since last year. On October 10, it announced the establishment of a new subsidiary to facilitate its work with Australian companies.
New equipment combining technology and components from EX-Fusion and EOS Space Systems will be installed in an EOS satellite laser ranging and tracking station in Australia. It is expected to significantly improve the ability to locate debris in space before it potentially collides with and damages satellites.
EX-Fusion and EOS are not alone in the market: Arcsec, a spinoff from Belgian university KU Leuven, competes in the space. Arcsec, which supplies high-accuracy attitude determination and control systems for small and miniature satellites, is also working on technology capable of tracking space debris as small as three centimeters.
While the debris can be small, the problem is large and growing. According to figures from the Space Debris Office of the European Space Agency, about 34,890 objects are regularly tracked, most of them larger than 10 centimeters across.
Estimates of smaller space debris are much higher with about one million fragments from one to 10 centimeters in size and perhaps more than 130 million measured at less than one centimeter.
While space debris removal technology is compatible with and may contribute to identification and response to military threats in space, its development is not simply a cover story for clandestine military activity.
Yuri Borisov, director-general of Russian space agency Roscosmos, recently told reporters about the dangers of artificial debris in low-Earth orbit to the International Space Station, which he explained requires constant monitoring and elimination.
The problem, he said,“needs to be taken very seriously, comprehensively addressing issues of protection from garbage, as well as timely monitoring and evading it.”
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