Bodyguard spacecraft could shield satellites from orbital attacks

Technologies developed and tested in orbit to remove space junk and fix broken satellites can be speedily repurposed to build fleets of bodyguard spacecraft to protect important satellites from adversary attacks, space clean-up company Astroscale thinks.

Astroscale made history with its 2024 up-close in-orbit inspection of a discarded Japanese rocket stage during the pioneering ADRAS-J mission in low Earth orbit (LEO), the region of space below altitudes of 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).

The firm’s ELSA-D mission, which ran from 2021 to 2024, was the first commercial endeavor to demonstrate orbital capture technologies in LEO. Now, this technology can come in handy as Western space assets face increasing threats from Russia.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in London earlier this month, Alex Godfrey, Astroscale’s head of defense, said the company could have a protector spacecraft ready for launch in under three years.

“In in-orbit servicing, we have to achieve very high levels of agility to be able to dock and close to a distance of zero meters to refuel something or remove it from orbit,” Godfrey told Space.com. “With space control, you’re rarely getting quite as close, so in some ways it’s simpler because you are further away.”

Space control — a military term for ensuring the space around Earth remains orderly and peaceful — is quickly becoming a hot talking point. Godfrey’s remarks came just as the world witnessed in shock as Russia made close-up maneuvers around a radar satellite owned by Finland headquartered Earth-observation company ICEYE. The October incident, described by experts as the first rendezvous of two active satellites in low Earth orbit conducted without the consent of the target, raised concerns Russia may be preparing to damage the satellite, which is part of a fleet providing critical intelligence to Ukraine.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas G. DiNanno described Russia’s actions on X as “threatening behavior” and “consistent with on-orbit weapons operations.”

The ICEYE incident is only the latest in a long string of activities conducted by Russia in space designed either to eavesdrop on or interfere with the activity of critical Western space assets. The Luch-1 and Luch-2 satellites have been stalking Europe’s and America’s communications satellites in geostationary orbit — the busy region 22,000 miles (36,000 km) above the planet where satellites have a fixed view of a portion of the globe—since 2014. Germany’s military space command chief Major General Michael Traut admitted earlier this year that the Luch spacecraft have been spying on European strategic communications in space for years.

A bodyguard satellite would make sure no such intruder gets dangerously close. Godfrey said that the cost of a bodyguard mission would be on the order of a single percent of the value of a military-grade geostationary communications constellation such as the U.K.’s £8.4-billion Skynet fleet.

“To build a bodyguard satellite is absolutely within the capability and the budget of a single country like the U.K.,” said Godfrey. “It would be similar to a carrier strike group where you have a [naval aircraft] carrier, but that carrier never leaves the port on its own. It has an escort of much smaller, lower-cost systems that move around to protect it.”

Although Astroscale, headquartered in Japan but with significant presence in the U.K., is a leader in the commercial orbital rendezvous and proximity operations technology, no Western players currently match the deployed capabilities of Russia and China. Europe, in particular, is under-equipped for defense and military operations in space, according to the Secure World Foundation’s Global Counterspace Capabilities Report. With Russia’s accelerating orbital forays, the clock appears to be ticking.

Godfrey proposes a pan-European fleet of orbital bodyguards patrolling clusters of European assets to ward off future Russian attempts to jam or damage the satellites.

“The UK, for example, has multiple assets in different positions around the geostationary ring,” Godfrey said. “That is difficult to protect with a single spacecraft. So what I encourage nations to think about is how to form a geo-patrol force through collaboration. If France has assets in a similar location to the UK and maybe Germany, then it makes sense for one spacecraft to protect two or three allied spacecraft, and then, in another region, another country takes responsibility for the protection.”

Nick Shave, the UK managing director at Astroscale, told Space.com that the company sees interest in its technologies and is “in discussions” with “companies and customers across Europe” although it has not signed any contracts to develop bodyguard satellites.

“We have spent a good amount of time talking over the last few years, but now we have to go and really deliver,” Shave said. “The UK government is promising funding for space control development from 2030 onwards. So what needs to happen now is really preparing the ground so that we’ve got the right capabilities, the right investment and the right demonstrator capability, by 2030.”

In the meantime, Russia’s COSMOS 2612 stalker satellite keeps lingering 298 miles (480 km) from the ICEYE intelligence satellite in LEO, keeping the Western space community on edge.