Star Signal Solutions, a startup that grew out of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), announced on 15 July that it had secured ¥450m ($3m) in a seed funding round.
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Tokyo, the company provides services that help satellites avoid collisions with space debris.
Offering collision-avoidance navigation and other services
Space debris is a problem born of humanity’s expansion into space. In 2025, an incident occurred in which China’s Shenzhou-20 delayed its return to Earth after a suspected collision with a tiny piece of debris during operations in orbit. As space development continues, technologies both for avoiding collisions with debris and for removing the debris itself will have to advance in tandem.
Against this backdrop, Star Signal Solutions has set out a vision of “protecting safety in space and building a prosperous life on Earth and a future for human activity in space”, with the accompanying goal of “solving the traffic problem in space”. By 2030, the company forecasts, the frequency at which debris approaches satellites to dangerous levels will rise to 37m occurrences a year. To prevent accidents, it offers four services: observation, orbital analysis, collision-avoidance navigation and a space-object database.
Of these, although the actual state of commercial progress is not clear, two—collision-avoidance navigation and the observation service—are listed on the services page of its official website. The collision-avoidance navigation service, called “S-CAN”, provides satellite collision-probability calculations and recommended operational plans over the web. The observation service uses image-analysis and image-detection technology to detect debris, including objects smaller than 10cm (4in).
To strengthen space situational awareness, the company has also been deepening partnerships with related companies and institutions. In 2025 it signed memoranda of understanding with Inovor Technologies, an Australian satellite-manufacturing startup, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force; and in 2026 with Look Up, a French peer.
“We aim to be a space-data infrastructure trusted by satellite operators and government agencies worldwide”, says CEO
The seed round was funded by JAFCO, a Japanese venture-capital firm.
As uses for the funds, the company cited “developing SSA infrastructure, starting with the construction of a global space-object observation network; research and development of core technologies; accelerating the market launch of products and services; strengthening its talent and organisational base; and building partnerships at home and abroad”.
Akihiro Iwaki, co-founder and chief executive of Star Signal Solutions, said: “Through this funding we will accelerate the practical application of our technology and our overseas expansion, aiming to become a space-data infrastructure trusted by satellite operators and government agencies worldwide.”
