Ibadan, 15 August 2025. – Cambrian Works has selected Astroscale U.S. as its mission partner for a 30-day NASA study to develop a comprehensive concept of operations and implementation plan for a potential commercial mission to raise the orbit of the agency’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
Additionally, the mission concept study will provide NASA with a technically credible, operationally executable and rapidly developed solution to extend the spacecraft’s mission life.
In a statement discussing the collaboration, Dr. Victor Aguero, Cambrian Works Co-Founder, CEO and CTO remarked, “The Cambrian-Astroscale U.S. solution will combine our patent-pending electric Thin Attachment Pad (eTAP™) technology — a space-rated, reusable subsystem that can attach to any spacecraft surface without prior modification for flexible, non-invasive servicing — with Astroscale’s proven expertise and on-orbit success in rendezvous, proximity operations, docking and mission integration.”
“Together, we offer NASA a credible, near-term path to extend the Swift Observatory’s mission while demonstrating U.S.-led commercial servicing capabilities,” Dr Aguero concluded.
Ron Lopez, President of Astroscale U.S., agreed: “The Cambrian–Astroscale U.S. partnership represents the growing strength of the U.S. commercial space servicing sector. A successful Swift orbit boost would not only extend the mission of one of NASA’s most productive science assets, but also serve as a demonstration of U.S.-developed, commercially led capabilities that can be applied to future government and commercial spacecraft.”
Astroscale U.S. recently signed a reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to test rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) capabilities of the Astroscale U.S. Refueler spacecraft. As a result, the company will test its Refueler at GSFC in preparation for the two refueling operations of U.S. DOD satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) for the United States Space Force (USSF).
