Science
ADRAS-J
Commercial Debris Inspection Satellite · Astroscale Japan (for JAXA)
Right now
LiveIt moves every second. See exactly where it is — worked out from its orbit, on your own device — on the live 3D globe.
- Over
- —
- Altitude
- —
- Speed
- —
ADRAS-J spent 293 days chasing a piece of trash the size of a school bus — a defunct Japanese rocket upper stage tumbling through orbit since 2009 with no beacon and no way to cooperate. Astroscale's satellite closed the distance to just 15 meters using nothing but ground tracking estimates and its own cameras, the closest any commercial spacecraft has approached real, uncooperative debris. On March 25, 2026, its job done, ADRAS-J began deorbit operations; a successor mission, ADRAS-J2, is planned for FY2027 to actually attempt removing the same piece of debris.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 186–272 mi (299–438 km)
- Inclination
- 98.2°
- One orbit
- 91.8 minutes15.7 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 58992
- Int’l designator
- 2024-034A
- Launched
- 2024
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More science
- AEROCUBE 16ACubeSat Materials Science Technology Demonstrator
- AEROCUBE 16BCubeSat Materials Science Technology Demonstrator
- AEROCUBE 18ACubeSat Technology Demonstrator
- AEROCUBE 18BCubeSat Technology Demonstrator
- AEROCUBE 5CCubeSat Technology Demonstrator
- AEROCUBE 6ACubeSat Technology Demonstrator (Differential Drag)