On Closer Inspection

The ADRAS-J spacecraft was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for Phase I of its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration Project (CRD2), one of the world’s first technology demonstrations of removing large-scale debris from orbit. ADRAS-J will demonstrate a safe and secure approach — known as RPO — with an H-IIA rocket 2nd stage launched in January 2009, and will obtain images of and other conditional data (spin rate, spin axis, conditions etc.) about that object, delivering observational information to better understand the space debris environment. ​