A Japanese venture firm aiming to develop technology to remove space junk says its satellite successfully took close-up photos of rocket debris orbiting the Earth.
Astroscale Japan released the images on Tuesday.
They show the second stage of an H2A rocket. Its nozzle can be seen in the images.
Tokyo-based Astroscale said its satellite, launched in February, got within about 50 meters of the rocket section on July 15 and 16.
The H2A rocket was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, in 2009. The second stage is currently orbiting the earth at an altitude of 600 kilometers, but it does not transmit GPS data.
Astroscale said the satellite approached the rocket debris using ground-based observation data. It plans to maneuver it within several meters of the debris.
The company aims to launch a service to collect space junk by developing a special satellite for the purpose.
JAXA estimates that more than 100 million pieces of space junk measuring over 1 millimeter are orbiting the Earth. The debris could cause serious damage to active satellites and hardware.