UK hires Astroscale for $20 million LEDA military space mission

The UK Ministry of Defence has hired Astroscale UK as prime contractor for LEDA, a new £15 million (about $20 million) military space program under which the company will build, launch and operate a spacecraft to study how satellites maneuvering close to other spacecraft could be used in orbital warfare, and how to counter them.

Astroscale, the Japanese satellite-servicing company whose British subsidiary is based at Harwell, Oxfordshire, announced the award on Oct. 28. BAE Systems and Open Cosmos, a British small-satellite maker, will support the program as key partners. Astroscale’s Tokyo-listed parent first disclosed a £15 million contract from the Ministry of Defence for a new defense program, running over several years, in a Sept. 30 filing that did not name it.

The mission centers on rendezvous and proximity operations, or RPO, the ability of one spacecraft to approach and maneuver near another. UK Space Command said LEDA will give Britain a permanent path to understanding how spacecraft that perform such maneuvers operate and how they might be used against threats from other RPO-capable satellites.

“Control of space is not about seeking conflict in space, it is about demonstrating that we can protect the capabilities upon which our economy, our society, and our armed forces depend,” said Tony Williams, head of space capability at UK Space Command.

Astroscale has flown this kind of close-approach work before. Its ELSA-d mission, launched in 2021, demonstrated rendezvous with and magnetic capture of a client spacecraft, and in 2024 its ADRAS-J spacecraft approached and inspected a discarded Japanese rocket stage at a distance of less than 15 m (49 feet), even though the rocket body was never designed to be approached. The British team built the ground systems for ADRAS-J and ran its flight dynamics, including maneuver planning and collision-risk monitoring.

LEDA adds to Astroscale’s growing work for the UK military. In June 2025, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory awarded the company a £5.15 million (about $6.8 million) contract, through BAE Systems, for Orpheus, a mission in which Astroscale UK will operate two Open Cosmos-built satellites flying in close formation to gather space domain awareness data. Orpheus passed its critical design review in April 2026 and is on track for launch in 2027. The company is also preparing ELSA-M, which it says will be the world’s first active debris removal mission when it captures and removes a commercial satellite, and it recently earned an international information security certification covering its work on both ELSA-M and Orpheus.

“Our ambition is to be the trusted partner for Space Control. We look forward to delivering LEDA for the Ministry of Defence, supported by BAE Systems and Open Cosmos,” said Nick Shave, UK managing director of Astroscale.

The award follows the publication of the UK Space Strategy, which puts defense and national security at its center, with a focus on protecting the satellites that provide Britain’s communications, navigation and intelligence. Under the Defence Investment Plan, the government has allocated £3.2 billion (about $4.2 billion) for space through 2030 and describes the domain as the central nervous system of modern high-intensity warfare.

Astroscale’s defense work extends beyond Britain. The company holds contracts with Japan’s Ministry of Defense, and its U.S. subsidiary is preparing to refuel a U.S. Space Force satellite in geostationary orbit. This week, Astroscale also proposed a fleet of “bodyguard” spacecraft to protect valuable satellites, which its head of defense said could be ready to launch in less than three years.