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= Starfish Space = Starfish Space is an American satellite company specializing in space rendezvous and satellite servicing based in the Seattle metropolitan area. The company was founded in 2019 by Austin Link and Dr. Trevor Bennett, two former engineers from Blue Origin. The company is currently developing the Otter satellite servicing vehicle with the first two Otter vehicles slated for launch in 2026 on behalf of the United States Space Force and Intelsat.

History
The company started in 2019...

In September 2021, the company raised $7 million in seed funding in a round led by venture funds NFX Guild and MaC Venture Capital.

In March 2023, the company raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Munich Re Ventures with participation from Toyota Ventures, and Pioneer Square Labs, funding development of their Otter satellite servicing vehicles to extend the operational life of active satellites and dispose of dead satellites. In August 2023, the company was awarded $1.8 million by the U.S. Air Force to support continued development of their guidance, navigation and control software. In October 2023, the company won a contract with NASA to inspect orbital debris up close.

In May 2024, the company won a $37.5 million contract with the U.S. Space Force to develop, launch and operate an Otter satellite servicing vehicle on behalf of national defense priorities. In June of 2024, the company announced a contract with Intelsat to develop, launch and operate an Otter satellite servicing vehicle, marking Starfish's first commercial customer.

In 2020...

In 2021...

Otter Pup 1 Mission
Starfish Space launched its first demonstration satellite, Otter Pup, in June 2023 on board SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission.

Otter Pup 1 launched on June 12, 2023. The Otter Pup mission concept was to ride up on an integrated orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), separate a week later, then perform Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) over the subsequent months before completing a docking with the same OTV it was deployed from. However, shortly after Otter Pup 1’s OTV separated from the launch vehicle, the OTV suffered an anomaly that caused it to rotate at over 330 deg/s. Thanks to a rapid reaction by the OTV provider, Otter Pup 1 was emergency deployed, and the mission had a chance to continue. However, due to the nature of its deployment, Otter Pup 1 was spinning at over 330 deg/s, and Starfish needed to work tirelessly to attempt to recover the mission.

In less than two months, Starfish Space was able to design and deploy novel control algorithms to completely remove the tumble and achieve normal operations. In the following months, as Otter Pup was going through various health checks, the electric propulsion thruster failed, and as a result there was no longer a possibility that Otter Pup could attempt a docking mission.

Regardless, Starfish sought to maximize the value of Otter Pup for testing and validation of its core technologies. In January 2024, Starfish and D-Orbit agreed to attempt a rendezvous mission between Otter Pup and D-Orbit’s ION satellite, in which Starfish would direct D-Orbit to execute maneuvers placing ION within close proximity of Otter Pup.

By mid-April 2024, Otter Pup and ION were in position for the final rendezvous attempt. ION passed by Otter Pup at increasingly close orbits, down to within approximately 1 kilometer. On Friday, April 19th, 2024 Otter Pup pointed its cameras and captured images of ION, marking the successful rendezvous. On Tuesday, May 27, 2024, Starfish Space announced the decommissioning of the Otter Pup Mission, congratulating the team and partners who made the mission possible. Starfish is planning to launch Otter Pup 2 in 2025.

Technology
Overview