Astroscale pitches 'bodyguard' spacecraft fleet to protect satellites
Astroscale says a protector spacecraft could launch within three years, pitching a pan-European orbital-defense fleet.
what happened
Astroscale's head of defense Alex Godfrey said at a London event this month that the company could have a 'bodyguard' spacecraft ready for launch in under three years, proposing a fleet of escort satellites that would patrol clusters of allied satellites to deter jamming or physical attacks, per Space.com. Godfrey estimated the cost at about one percent of the value of a military-grade geostationary constellation such as the UK's Skynet fleet. Astroscale UK managing director Nick Shave said the company is in discussions with "companies and customers across Europe" but has not signed any contracts to develop bodyguard satellites.
why it matters
Astroscale is pitching a new, higher-margin defense line built on the proximity-operations expertise it developed for debris removal and satellite servicing, at a moment when European governments are weighing how to protect assets from Russian jamming and shadowing incidents. No contract exists yet, but the proposed one-percent-of-constellation-value price point gives European defense ministries and primes a concrete benchmark against in-house alternatives.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Astroscale
- Category
- product
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 2 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-10-27
- Published
- 2026-10-27 12:54 UTC