Catching a satellite — to inspect, service, or deorbit it — is a problem of finesse, not force. US12097979B1, granted to Astroscale Israel, Ltd. on September 24, 2024, claims a "satellite for rendezvous and docking using electric propulsion thrusters" — finesse, encoded.
The CPC is compact: B64G 1/646 (docking arrangements), B64G 1/244 (attitude control by thrusters), and B64G 1/40 (propulsion plant). The pairing of docking and thruster-based attitude control is the whole approach-and-capture sequence in three codes.
The mechanism is why electric propulsion suits this job. Chemical thrusters fire in coarse, forceful pulses — fine for big maneuvers, clumsy for the millimeter-scale corrections of a final docking approach. Electric thrusters deliver low, finely controllable thrust, ideal for the slow, precise closing rate you want when nudging up to an uncooperative target. They are also propellant-stingy, which matters for a mission that may chase multiple targets over a long campaign.
Astroscale is among the most committed pure-plays in debris removal and servicing, and this grant — paired with its multi-object debris-removal family (US12234043B2, US12391411B2 in 2025) — shows the company building IP around both the capture mechanics and the propulsion that gets it there. Filing velocity across capture and approach is intent.
The claims-discipline caveat: this protects Astroscale's specific electric-propulsion rendezvous-and-docking satellite, not the broad idea of using electric thrusters for proximity operations. Its value is in defending the approach-and-capture method central to the company's missions. For the debris-removal whitespace — strategically important, commercially unproven — it is one of the clearest records of a serious contender's technical approach.