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Orbital Lasers

Lasers for debris removal

Orbital Lasers operates in the debris removal & servicing sector of the space industry, is headquartered in Japan, was founded in 2024, is at Series A stage.

Orbital Lasers at a glance

StatusActivechecked August 2026
SectorsDebris Removal & Servicing, Earth Observation
HeadquartersJapan
Founded2024
StageSeries A
Websiteorbitallasers.com

Record last updated August 2026 · how we verify · spotted something outdated? Tell us.

Timeline & funding

  1. March 2026Funding
    Series A: 3.02 billion yen (about $20M)↗Led by SPARX Asset Management, with JIC Venture Growth Investments, Keio Innovation Initiative, Angel Bridge, MUFG Capital, Mizuho Capital and SKY Perfect JSAT
  2. December 2024Funding
    Seed (convertible equity): 900 million yen↗SKY Perfect JSAT, UTokyo Innovation Platform and SMBC Venture Capital
  3. January 2024Company
    Carved out of SKY Perfect JSAT to commercialise laser debris removal and satellite LiDAR↗

Backed by

Investors in Orbital Lasers who also back other space companies we track.

Mission

Space-based lasers for debris detumbling, plus satellite LiDAR.

Orbital Lasers wants to stop space debris from spinning by shooting it. A pulsed laser fired from about a hundred metres away vaporises a thin layer of the target's surface, and the puff of vapour pushes back like a tiny thruster. Done repeatedly and aimed well, that settles a tumbling rocket stage enough for a servicing spacecraft to grab it. The same optics, pointed the other way, work as a satellite LiDAR for mapping terrain.

The company is a January 2024 spinout from SKY Perfect JSAT, Japan's satellite broadcaster, where Tadanori Fukushima had led debris removal work with the laser scientists at RIKEN since 2018. The plan is to sell the detumbling payload to the companies that do the grabbing rather than compete with them for removal contracts, and to build a data business on the LiDAR alongside.

Nothing has flown. The laser has fired only in laboratories, nobody anywhere has detumbled real debris by laser in orbit, and the company's own demonstration is planned for 2027. An earlier plan to have a sellable payload by March 2025 passed without an announcement. The paying work so far is research, a LiDAR study for JAXA and a monitoring contract from Japan's defence ministry.

Team

  • Tadanori Fukushima · President & CEO

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