02 / Services

Services provided

Two principal service lines, de-orbiting satellites at end of life and removing high-risk debris, supported by the rendezvous, capture and operations capabilities that make any removal mission possible.

Primary lines: End-of-life de-orbiting, high-risk debris removal
Target class: Cooperative and uncooperative, tumbling included
Regimes: Low Earth orbit and higher
Model: Owned, built and commercially operated by JUJUME

Overview

One capability, applied to two very different obligations

Taking a dead satellite out of a crowded shell and taking a derelict upper stage out of the same shell are the same engineering problem with different paperwork.

For a commercial operator, removal is usually about an obligation: a disposal requirement attached to a licence, a spacecraft that failed before it could deorbit itself, or a shell that is becoming too hazardous for the rest of the fleet. For a government body or agency, it is usually about priority: a specific object that analysis has identified as a disproportionate contributor to future collision risk.

The underlying work does not change. Find the object, understand how it is moving, get a spacecraft safely alongside it, hold onto it, and bring it down on a path we chose in advance. Everything on this page is either one of those steps or the capability that makes a step possible.

What a removal actually delivers

An object that is verifiably no longer in orbit
A disposal path chosen and flown deliberately, not estimated afterwards
Documentation suitable for regulators, insurers and partners
Inspection data gathered during the approach
No new fragments produced in the process

The measure of this work is objects removed, not missions flown.
Our position

Service	Primarily for	Typical target	Outcome
End-of-life de-orbiting	Constellation and fleet operators	Retired or failed satellite in its operating shell	Controlled re-entry and a compliant disposal record
High-risk debris removal	Government bodies and agencies	Massive derelict in a congested or strategic orbit	Removal of a disproportionate share of future break-up risk
Rendezvous and proximity ops	Any removal or servicing campaign	Uncooperative, often tumbling object	Safe approach, inspection and station keeping
Soft robotic capture	Any removal campaign	Objects with no docking interface or grapple fixture	A secure grasp that accommodates residual motion
In-space refueling	Operators of healthy, serviceable spacecraft	Working satellite low on propellant	Extended mission life instead of early replacement
Mission design and operations	Every customer	The campaign itself	Planning, flight operations and verification end to end

In detail

Six lines of work

01Constellation operators

End-of-life satellite de-orbiting

When a satellite reaches the end of its working life, the responsible outcome is a controlled, predictable descent. The common outcome is a dead spacecraft left in a busy shell, because the disposal system failed, the propellant ran out, or the satellite was built before disposal was an expectation.

We provide the alternative. Our servicer rendezvouses with the spacecraft, captures it with the soft robotic capture system and performs a controlled de-orbit, bringing it down on a path chosen in advance rather than one the atmosphere decides on in forty years.

For a fleet operator the value is twofold. The immediate benefit is compliance: a disposal obligation met, documented and closed out. The longer benefit is the shell itself. Removing your own derelicts protects the rest of your constellation from the cascade a single uncontrolled object can set off, and protects everyone else flying at the same altitude.

What is included

Target characterisation and capture feasibility assessment
Mission design, capture windows and propellant budgeting
Rendezvous, inspection and proximity operations
Capture of cooperative or uncooperative spacecraft
Controlled de-orbit on a deliberate path
Disposal documentation and tracking evidence

Suited to

Retired satellites
Failed deployments
Stranded spacecraft
Licence obligations

02Governments and agencies

High-risk debris removal

Not all debris is equal. A relatively small number of large, massive or poorly placed derelict objects account for an outsized share of the collision risk in orbit, and a single break-up among them would multiply the debris population for generations.

We provide targeted removal of those objects. The selection is analytical rather than opportunistic: mass, altitude, inclination, the density of traffic around the object and the number of close approaches it is involved in all feed into which target does the most good when it is gone.

For agencies and government bodies, this is how sustainability policy becomes a physical result. A published commitment is a statement of intent. An object that is no longer in orbit is a measurable change in the environment, and it is permanent.

What is included

Target prioritisation support against risk criteria
Campaign design for single or multiple objects
Approach to objects with no cooperative features
Capture and controlled disposal
Inspection data products from the rendezvous phase
Reporting suitable for public and programme accountability

Suited to

Spent upper stages
Large dead satellites
Congested shells
National target lists

03Foundational capability

Rendezvous and proximity operations

Before anything can be captured it has to be safely reached. Rendezvous and proximity operations are the discipline of closing the final distance to an object that was never built to cooperate, and in most cases is tumbling in a way nobody on the ground can fully predict.

Our spacecraft approach, inspect and station keep alongside such objects. That means relative navigation that works against an uncooperative target, an approach corridor with defined hold points, enough observation time to measure the tumble, and abort criteria that are set before the approach starts rather than argued about during it.

This is the foundational work of active debris removal, and it is the reason the capability transfers to servicing a healthy satellite as readily as removing a dead one. The difficulty is the same. Only the intent at the end differs.

Capability elements

Relative navigation against non-cooperative objects
Far-field phasing and approach planning
Inspection and characterisation at close range
Precise relative station keeping
Defined hold points and abort criteria
Tumble measurement ahead of any contact

Applies to

Debris removal
Satellite servicing
Inspection missions
Refueling

04Core technology

Soft robotic capture

At the centre of our technical approach is a soft robotic capture system: a compliant grasping mechanism developed in house as core flight technology. A rigid mechanism needs a precise, cooperative interface, which almost nothing in the existing debris population has. A compliant system conforms to the awkward geometry of an object that was never designed to be caught.

That compliance is what makes tumbling, uncooperative debris tractable. The mechanism absorbs and accommodates residual motion instead of fighting it, which keeps contact loads low and reduces the chance of the worst possible outcome in this line of work, which is a capture attempt that produces fragments.

Engineering of the capture system has advanced through formal milestones. Both the preliminary design review and the critical design review are complete, and the design has been judged sound and ready to advance toward build and qualification.

Design intent

Conform to geometry rather than require a fixture
Accommodate residual tumble at the moment of contact
Keep contact loads low on both bodies
Hold securely enough to stabilise the combined stack
Work across rocket bodies, satellites and large fragments

Status

PDR complete CDR complete Core flight technology

05Adjacent capability

In-space refueling

The same rendezvous, proximity operations and capture capabilities that let us remove a derelict object also let us reach a healthy one. We have identified in-space refueling as an adjacent capability of clear interest: delivering propellant to spacecraft already in orbit so they can keep working instead of being replaced.

It is a natural extension of an active debris removal platform, because the expensive, difficult parts are shared. Safely reaching another spacecraft and connecting to it is the problem. What crosses the interface afterwards is an engineering detail by comparison.

For an operator the economics are straightforward. Propellant is usually the first consumable to run out on an otherwise healthy satellite, and a replacement costs far more than the propellant it launches with. Refueling turns the same technology that ends missions cleanly into one that can prolong them.

Why it follows from removal

Shared rendezvous and proximity operations heritage
Shared approach to capture and secure connection
Shared flight operations and mission design
Extends mission life for spacecraft that still work
Reduces the replacement launches that add new mass to orbit

Status

Identified capability Platform extension

06End to end

Mission design and operations

Every removal is a mission in its own right, and most of the work happens before anything launches. We define the target, plan the trajectory and the capture windows, size the propellant, agree the abort criteria, and then fly the campaign from deployment through controlled disposal.

Because we design, build and commercially operate the spacecraft ourselves, mission planning stays tightly coupled to the vehicles doing the work. There is no handover between the organisation that understood the plan and the organisation flying it, which matters when a tumble rate turns out to be different from the one in the analysis.

Campaigns can address a single object or a sequence of them across different orbital regimes, planned against the schedule on which a customer actually needs objects gone.

Scope of operations

Target selection and feasibility analysis
Flight dynamics, phasing and capture window planning
Launch coordination and on-orbit commissioning
Live flight operations through capture and disposal
Post-mission verification and reporting
Multi-object campaign sequencing

Model

Designed in house
Built in house
Commercially operated

Engagement

How a campaign runs

Scoping

What object, which orbit, what obligation and by when. We establish whether removal is the right answer before anyone spends money finding out.

Customer inputs

Target characterisation

Mass, geometry, attitude state, surface condition and orbital history. Ground observation data, design documentation and anything the operator still holds all feed into a capture feasibility assessment.

Feasibility

Mission design

Trajectory and phasing strategy, capture windows, propellant budget, approach corridor, hold points and abort criteria, set against the licensing picture for that orbit and that object.

Agreed plan

Launch and commissioning

The carrier reaches its operating orbit and checks out. Every subsystem is verified before the servicer goes anywhere near another object.

On orbit

Approach and inspection

Phasing closes the distance, then relative navigation takes over. The servicer holds station, inspects the target, measures its actual tumble and confirms the grasp point.

Go or no-go

Capture

Final approach along the agreed corridor and a compliant grasp. The mechanism accommodates the motion that remains, then the combined stack is stabilised as a single body.

Contact

Disposal and verification

A deliberate de-orbit sequence on a predictable path, followed by the tracking evidence and documentation showing the object is no longer in orbit and no longer a hazard.

Closed out

No-go is a valid result

If characterisation says an object cannot be captured safely with the system we have, we say so at phase two rather than discovering it at phase six. That is the cheapest possible place to find out.

Inputs

What we need from you

The more of this you have, the faster a feasibility answer comes back. None of it is a prerequisite for a first conversation.

Object identity: Catalogue designation, international designator or whatever identification exists for the object.
Orbit: Current orbital elements, along with any history of manoeuvres or drift.
Physical data: Mass, dimensions, geometry, appendages, and drawings or models if they still exist.
Attitude state: Whether the object is stable, slowly tumbling or spinning, and any observation data behind that assessment.
Failure history: How and when the spacecraft stopped working, and whether it was passivated.
Obligations: The licence conditions, deadlines or commitments the removal needs to satisfy.
Authorisations: Which state of registry and which parties hold jurisdiction over the object, and who can authorise an approach.

Outputs

What you receive

A removal campaign is only finished when the evidence is in your hands.

Feasibility assessment: A clear answer on whether the object can be captured safely, with the reasoning behind it.
Mission plan: Trajectory, windows, approach corridor, hold points and abort criteria, reviewed with you before flight.
Inspection data: Observations gathered during proximity operations, including condition and attitude behaviour.
Capture confirmation: Confirmation of grasp and of a stabilised combined stack.
Disposal record: The de-orbit sequence as flown, with tracking evidence that the object has left orbit.
Compliance pack: Documentation assembled for regulators, insurers and programme reporting.

Questions we get

The practical answers

Only with the involvement of the parties who hold jurisdiction over it. An object in orbit remains under the jurisdiction of its state of registry, so removal is never a unilateral act. In practice this means the registering state and the original operator are part of the conversation from the start.

For government and agency customers this is usually straightforward, because the objects on their priority lists are often ones they registered themselves. For commercial customers the question is normally about their own hardware, which simplifies it further.

State of registry retains jurisdiction
Authorisation established before design begins
No approach without the right permissions in place

We assume it is. Most derelict objects have no attitude control, and many are rotating because of residual momentum, thermal effects or the event that disabled them. Designing for a cooperative, stabilised target would exclude almost the entire population we exist to address.

This is the central reason our capture system is compliant rather than rigid. The mechanism conforms to the object and accommodates the motion that remains at contact, rather than requiring the tumble to be eliminated first. Measuring the real tumble during the inspection phase is part of every approach.

Tumble measured before any contact
Compliant grasp accommodates residual motion
Stack stabilised after capture, not before

It comes down on a path we chose in advance. Controlled de-orbit means the descent is deliberate and predictable rather than left to atmospheric drag over an uncertain number of years, which is what makes the outcome documentable.

Disposal is treated as part of the mission design rather than an afterthought, which is also why we will not take on a capture without having settled how the object leaves orbit at the end of it.

Deliberate disposal sequence
Predictable, trackable descent
Evidence package on completion

That is the point of the carrier and servicer pairing. The carrier provides the propulsion, power and reach to position capture capability across orbital locations, which is what makes a campaign rather than a single capture possible.

How many objects a given campaign can address depends on where they are relative to one another, how massive they are and the propellant that implies. Sequencing is part of mission design, and it is one of the levers that brings cost per object down.

Multi-object sequencing in mission design
Cost per object falls with campaign length
Orbit geometry sets the practical limit

By treating it as the primary failure mode rather than an edge case. Approach corridors, hold points and abort criteria are defined before a campaign begins. Contact loads are kept low by design, which is a direct consequence of the capture system being compliant.

And if characterisation says an object cannot be captured safely with the system we have, the answer is no. A removal mission that produces fragments has made the environment worse, whatever else it achieved.

Abort criteria agreed in advance
Low contact loads by design
No-go is an acceptable outcome

JUJUME is an early-stage, venture-backed company. The soft robotic capture system has completed both its preliminary and critical design reviews, a pre-seed round has closed, and we are based at a major innovation and incubation centre for space technology ventures.

We are explicit about this because operators planning around a removal service need to know the difference between what exists now and what is being built. The programme page sets out the milestones that are complete and the ones ahead.

PDR and CDR complete on the capture system
Pre-seed round closed, venture backed
Building toward flight hardware

Programme detail

Get in touch

Start with one object

Send us the object, the orbit and the deadline. A feasibility conversation costs nothing and usually clarifies more than a proposal would.

Contact the mission team