Yusaku Maezawa went into space and saw a problem: garbage

In December 2021, shortly before his 12-day stint on the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa compared his happiness to that of an elementary school student about to leave for a tour. “I thought I couldn’t go into space. So I feel lucky to have this opportunity.”

Indeed, when it comes to space, the founder of Zozotown, Japan’s largest online fashion mall, is all smiles. In photos and videos, he always shows that fun typical of teenagers who are one step away from making a dream come true. Maezawa doesn’t look like he’s 47 years old.

So it was out there at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, the launch pad of the Russian rocket, and that’s the way it was now, next to Nobuo Okada, CEO of Astroscale, at the announcement of a $23 million investment in the debris-removal spacecraft company, headquartered in Tokyo.

Maezawa’s investment is part of the company’s $76 million funding round, which also included Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan Development Bank, and FEL Corp.

Since its founding in 2013, Astroscale has raised approximately $376 million. With offices and labs in Japan, the UK, the US and Israel, a new global headquarters is set to open in May in Tokyo. To date, the most important spacetech mission has been ELSA-d (End of Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration).

In March 2021, the company demonstrated the success of its technology for magnetically capturing waste that wanders through space. On that occasion, the magnet developed by Astroscale took a 175 kg spacecraft out of orbit. In recent years, with the increase in the number of satellite launches, waste has begun to accumulate in low Earth orbit, 350 and 2000 kilometers from the Earth’s surface.

In the calculations of NASA, the US space agency, there are about 25 thousand orbital debris larger than ten centimeters in size. For particles between one and ten centimeters in length, the estimates run to half a million. For those a millimeter long, they exceed 100 million. The greatest danger is the speed at which these objects move – more than 28,000 kilometers per hour, turning them into real projectiles.

The world depends on satellites more than ever, Astroscale CEO assesses. And if the tropical environment breaks down or becomes unusable, our lives will be irrevocably changed. Spacetech has projects with the Japanese, British and American governments.

“As someone who has been to space, I understand the enormous risks posed by debris in orbit,” Maezawa said in a statement. “I want to protect the future of space travel, so I decided to contribute to the Astroscale mission to reduce orbital debris.”

It could, too, that the billionaire plans to launch himself into space again this year. With the dearMoon project, Maezawa wants to go further and take a trip around the Moon, in a Space X rocket, owned by South African billionaire Elon Musk.

For this trip, he invited some celebrities from the art world. Among them are Tim Dodd, the American YouTuber; Yemi AD, Czech choreographer and artist; Rhiannon Adam and Karen Elia, Irish and British photographers, respectively; Brendan Hall, American filmmaker; and Dev Joshi, Indian Actor.

“They will have to create something when they return to Earth and their work will inspire all the latent dreamers in us,” he said, when introduced by Musk in December last year. If all goes well, Maezawa and his entourage will be the first civilian tourists to the moon. The mission’s budget is $5 billion, and the Japanese businessman finances part of the operation. “I chose to go to the moon! It was my childhood dream.”

In addition to space, as you can see, Maezawa also has a strong connection to the arts, especially contemporary art. In 2012 he founded the Foundation for Contemporary Art, which supports young artists. With an estimated fortune of US$1.7 billion, at the end of 2022, according to Forbes, his collection includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Donald Judd, John Chamberlain and Pablo Picasso.

In 2016, it was the highest bidder for a Basquiat painting—$57.3 million for an untitled painting by the American painter from 1982. Last year, Maezawa sold the same work for $85 million, at Phillips Gallery in New York. The billionaire also owns another “Untitled” Basquiat, dating back to 1981, for which he paid a record-breaking $110.5 million.

Maezawa was once an artist. Before entering the show business, he had a band, Switch Style, who even recorded a CD, for the Japanese label BMG. His first venture was an imported CD distributor, until he founded Zozotown in 1998.

Four years ago, he stepped down as CEO and sold a 30% stake in the online fashion giant to Yahoo Japan, in a deal worth a total of $3.7 billion. Today Maezawa lives to dream about space and touch his foundation for contemporary art.