Originally published 7 February 2024. Updated October 2026.

Barum & Dewar designed and manufactured a bespoke transit and storage container for Astroscale’s ELSA-M spacecraft, delivering the solution to the company’s Zeus facility at Harwell, Oxfordshire, in December 2023. Awarded in July 2023, the project marked B&D’s third contract with Astroscale and built on earlier work supporting the spacecraft’s development.

Supporting a more sustainable space sector

ELSA-M is an in-orbit demonstration mission intended to advance commercial end-of-life services for satellites equipped with a compatible docking interface. The demonstration will involve approaching, capturing and removing an inactive Eutelsat OneWeb satellite, supporting the development of services that help operators manage spacecraft responsibly at the end of their operational lives.

The mission is majority funded by Astroscale, with co-funding support from the UK Space Agency through the European Space Agency’s Sunrise Partnership Project with Eutelsat.

Since B&D delivered the container, the spacecraft programme has continued through development and testing. Astroscale selected Isar Aerospace as its launch provider in March 2026, with ELSA-M scheduled to travel aboard the company’s Spectrum rocket. Astroscale’s October 2026 update reported that the spacecraft had been delivered to RAL Space for electromagnetic compatibility testing and identified a planned launch in its financial year ending April 2028.

Protection designed around the spacecraft

B&D had previously supplied a DELTA®-style container for the structural qualification model. For the mission spacecraft, the team developed a fully fabricated, environmentally sealed solution incorporating a shock-mounted platform, purge and rapid decompression capability, and dual-height lids to accommodate different payload configurations.

The container was designed to provide a secure, clean and dry environment during domestic and international transportation, protecting the spacecraft against shock, vibration and ground-handling movements.

Developing this type of solution requires consideration of both the hardware and the practical demands of moving it. Payload interfaces, environmental protection, access and handling arrangements all influence how the container needs to perform throughout the programme.

A partnership built through successive projects

Carlotta Morini, Project Director, said, “We’re delighted to be working with Barum & Dewar again on this third contract. It is fantastic to have such a strong supply chain as the ELSA-M mission continues to grow and pave the way for commercial in-orbiting practises to become routine to ensure our orbits stay safe and sustainable for future generations.”

The project demonstrates B&D’s collaborative approach to engineered protection, bringing customer requirements and specialist container expertise together to support complex space hardware.

To discuss protective packaging for flight hardware, ground support equipment or specialist components, contact the B&D team.