The purpose of the fly-around was to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology used for the ADRAS-J spacecraft and capture images of the derelict stage, which weighs approximately three tons.
The automatic abort was a useful demonstration of ADRAS-J's ability to avoid collisions and, therefore, not become part of the debris problem itself that it is trying to help clear up.
The derelict upper stage was not designed with docking, rendezvous, or removal in mind, and ADRAS-J has been gathering images and other data for a follow-up mission.
Astroscale Japan did not elaborate further on the cause of the abort, saying only that it had no impact on the spacecraft, which remains in good health.
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