COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 11, 2019 – The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) in Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications is pleased to announce that Mr. Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO of Astroscale Holdings Inc., has officially become member of the SGAC Advisory Board.


Mr. Okada (center), together with (left to right) Harriet Brettle, SGAC Strategic Partnerships Team Coordinator; Clementine Decoopman, SGAC Executive Director; Matteo Emanuelli, SGAC Chair; Matteo Cappella, SGAC Consultant.

Nobu founded Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 due to a strong desire to address the growing threat of space debris. He used his personal funds as seed money and hired a team in Singapore in 2013 and opened an R&D office in Japan in 2015, a UK office in 2017, and a US office in 2019 whilst raising US $132M USD capital. The team call themselves, “Space Sweepers” and their mission is to secure long-term space flight safety by developing space debris removal technologies.

Nobu is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and is also a member of The Future of Space Technologies Council, World Economic Forum and International Astronautical Federation. He also served as a member of the Subcommittee on Space Civil Use, and Space Industry at the Cabinet Office for the Government of Japan. Nobu won the Forbes JAPAN “Start-up of The Year 2019” and was listed as Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2017.

Prior to Astroscale, Nobu was an IT entrepreneur and strategy consultant, and had managed IT companies in Japan, China, India and Singapore. He led one company to a successful IPO. Before joining the IT industry, he worked for McKinsey & Company and the Japanese Government in the Ministry of Finance. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1995 and an MBA from the Krannert School of Business, Purdue University in 2001.

When he was a teenager, Nobu attended a camp at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in the United States where he met Japan’s first astronaut, Mamoru Mohri. He received the handwritten message, “Space is waiting for your challenge.” and he has been inspired to work on space ever since.

About Astroscale – Astroscale is one of the few companies in the world proposing to aid in the removal of orbital debris through the provision of End of Life (EOL) and Active Debris Removal (ADR) services. In addition to providing a technical solution, Astroscale is helping to define the business case for this service and are working with national space agencies, international institutions, non-profit organizations, insurance companies and satellite operators to develop norms, regulations and incentives that contribute to the responsible use of space. www.astroscale.com

About SGAC – The Space Generation Advisory Council in Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications is a global non-governmental, non-profit (US 501(c)3) organisation and network which aims to represent university students and young space professionals ages 18-35 to the United Nations, space agencies, industry, and academia. Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, the SGAC network of members, volunteers and alumni has grown to more than 15 000 members representing more than 150 countries. www.spacegeneration.org

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