As announced on March 8, 2023, Starfish Space, Kent, Washington-based startup founded by former Blue Origin and NASA engineers in 2019, raised more than $21 million to develop Otter, an all-electric servicing spacecraft for in-orbit satellites.
The field of space exploration has advanced significantly in recent years, with various companies and organizations, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, exploring new technologies and concepts to advance space missions.
One such area of focus has been satellite servicing, which involves extending the life of satellites or performing maintenance and repairs while active in orbit missions.
The ability to service satellites in space can save millions of dollars and extend the lifespan of satellites, which can be crucial for important applications like communication, navigation, and weather forecasting.
Read the complete story to know the significance of the funding received and investments made to advance satellite repair and maintenance as well as debris retrieval missions.
Previous Developments and Partnerships: The Chronology
• In September 2021, Starfish Space secured a $7 million investment from a group of venture capital firms, including NFX and MaC Venture Capital, as well as PSL Ventures, Boost VC, Liquid2 Ventures, and Hypothesis. This funding has enabled the company to continue the development of its satellite servicing vehicles, including the Otter Pup and the full-size Otter spacecraft.
• In May 2022, Starfish Space announced a partnership with Benchmark Space Systems to collaborate on developing advanced precision on-orbit refueling and docking capabilities. The companies are integrating and testing Starfish's CEPHALOPOD RPOD software with Benchmark's Halcyon thruster, which uses non-toxic hydrogen peroxide fuel for spacecraft maneuvers. This collaboration is aimed at optimizing spacecraft control accuracy and improving the overall performance of Starfish's satellite servicing capabilities.
• In November 2022, Starfish Space announced its plan to launch the Otter Pup satellite in the spring of 2023.
The satellite features high-performance low-thrust electric propulsion and satellite docking system. It is designed to dock with another satellite in the fall of 2023.
This mission is a significant milestone for Starfish as it aims to demonstrate the capabilities of its satellite servicing technology, including satellite rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking.
The successful completion of this mission will boost Starfish's credibility in the satellite servicing market and position the company as a key player in the industry.
Developing the Satellite Servicing Technology
To keep up with the pace of growing demand for a variety of satellite-based services such as communication, navigation, and remote sensing, the number of satellite constellations is increasing in orbit.
However, these satellites have a finite lifetime and eventually stop functioning either due to the end of their fuel supply or technical problems.
Later, these satellites become space debris and can harm the space ecosystem and operational units in orbit.
To maintain uninterrupted service, new satellites are built and launched to replace the out-of-service satellites, which is a costly and time-consuming process.
To address these issues, satellite servicing technologies are being developed that can provide maintenance, repair, and refueling services.
Starfish Space is one of the key players proving the satellite servicing solution that is autonomous as well as affordable.
With its Otter servicing vehicle, known as Otter pup, Starfish Space aims to extend the lifespan of Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO) satellites in high orbit and dispose of space debris in low Earth orbit (LEO).
The three components of Starfish Space technology integrated with the otter servicing vehicles are Nautilus, CEPHALOPOD, and CETACEAN.
Nautilus is the capture mechanism that uses electrostatic adhesion to attach to flat surfaces, which enables Otters to dock with any satellite in space without requiring customization, also accessing GEO satellites in the high orbit.
CEPHALOPOD is the guidance software that autonomously plans, executes, and refines the mission in real time. This software continuously optimizes Otter's trajectory and aborts the mission if any unsafe conditions for docking are detected.
CETACEAN is the navigation system that uses binocular computer vision and Kalman filters to estimate the relative position, velocity, and uncertainty of Otter's pathway to enable optimal docking, allowing Otter to maneuver in space with precision avoiding collisions with other objects.
Together, these three components enable Otter to seamlessly dock and attach to large geostationary satellites, providing propulsion and extending their useful life by five more years.
Moreover, the Otter servicing vehicles can also drag dead satellites in LEO to a lower orbit to burn up and avoid collisions, making them ideal for mitigating space debris and improving space safety.
Jim Adler, founder and general partner of Toyota Ventures, says, ”With Otter servicing vehicle, Starfish Space has the unique satellite rendezvous, docking, and propulsion technologies to unlock the huge orbital space services market.”
According to BIS Research, the global satellite docking system market was valued at $0.04 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $1.0 billion in 2032, growing with a CAGR of 31.3% during the forecast period 2022-2032.
Significant Funding Received Ahead of Satellite Docking Mission
In a recent Series A funding round, Starfish Space raised $14 million to support the development of its technology and help extend the lifespan of existing satellites, reducing the amount of space debris in orbit.
Munich Re Ventures led the investment round, with additional participation from Toyota Ventures and previous investors, including PSL Ventures, NFX, and MaC VC.
Starfish Space has attracted over $21 million in total investment since they announced their satellite servicing innovation, including pre-seed and seed funding rounds. It will open new opportunities for the in-space economy.
The company plans to use the recently raised $14 million in funding to complete the development of its satellite servicing vehicles, including the Otter Pup, a prototype that is about the size of a microwave oven, and the full-size Otter spacecraft.
Austin Link, the co-founder of Starfish Space, announced on March 8, “the Otter Pup is currently undergoing testing and is on track to be ready for launch this summer.”
The Otter Pup will be sent into orbit as a rideshare payload on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission. It will execute a series of maneuvers with a xenon-fueled electric propulsion system to move away from the Orbiter space tug.
If successful, the Otter Pup will latch onto a docking target on the space tug using an electrostatic-based capture mechanism.
Future Implications
The company plans to launch the full-size Otter in the next two years to fulfill the demand for saving significant costs associated with launching and deploying new satellites.
However, to scale its operations and deliver its products to the market, Starfish Space may require further financing in addition to private funding.
Additionally,Starfish Space has also received technology development grants from NASA and the U.S. Space Force's SpaceWERX program to scale its satellite servicing technology.
Furthermore, Starfish's Otter service vehicle technology could become increasingly important as companies such as SpaceX, Amazon, and OneWeb expand their broadband satellite constellations.
Conclusion
Investments in companies such as Starfish Space are paving the way for a new frontier in the space industry, particularly in satellite and satellite systems assembly, upgrades, repair, recycling, and mining in orbit.
Interested to know more about the growing technologies in your industry vertical? Get the latest market studies and insights from BIS Research. Connect with us at [email protected] to learn and understand more.
