WASHINGTON — Satellite servicing company Starfish Space is ready to launch its second mission, a spacecraft that will attempt to dock with another spacecraft on the same launch.
The Seattle-based company announced May 20 that its Otter Pup 2 spacecraft is ready to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-14 rideshare mission, currently scheduled for no earlier than mid-June.
Otter Pup 2 will approach a D-Orbit ION vehicle that will also be deployed into low Earth orbit on Transporter-14. The goal is to have Otter Pup dock with the D-Orbit spacecraft using an electrostatic capture mechanism that allows it to attach to an unprepared satellite rather than using a specific docking mechanism.
Trevor Bennett, chief executive of Starfish, said in an interview that the goal of the mission is to demonstrate key technologies the company plans to use on its larger future Otter spacecraft for satellite servicing.
“The intent of this is to go show that interaction in orbit can be ubiquitous,” he said, “and that the technologies that we’re using and our approach actually are creating this whole new industry.”
On the company’s first mission, Otter Pup, the spacecraft was manifested as part of an orbital transfer vehicle by Launcher. That vehicle, though, started spinning controllably shortly after deployment on another Transporter mission in June 2023, requiring an immediate deployment of Otter Pup and other payloads. Starfish was not able to carry out its original mission of rendezvousing with the Launcher tug, but was able to instead approach another D-Orbit ION vehicle to within one kilometer and image it.
On this mission, Otter Pup 2 will be manifested separately from the D-Orbit ION vehicle on the Falcon 9. The two will initially go their separate ways, moving potentially hundreds of kilometers apart before Otter Pup 2 is ready to begin to approach the D-Orbit vehicle.
Bennett said this will provide a more realistic test. “The chasing down, doing this long-range rendezvous, as we would call it, is true to form for the services that we provide and true to form for the full technology stack.”
He emphasized that the D-Orbit ION vehicle does not have any docking mechanism for Otter Pup 2. “We built our vehicle to be able to interact with any vehicle that’s on orbit today, or vehicles that will be on orbit in the future, and that allows us to just go interface with them as they are,” he noted. Starfish plans to have Otter Pup 2 dock with a flat side panel on the D-Orbit ION, requiring a surface with an area about that of an outstretched hand.
The initial docking will last just a few minutes, he said, before undocking and retreating to a safe distance. If that docking and undocking goes well, there may be additional dockings, including the ability for Otter Pup 2 to perform maneuvers while docked. Bennett said that Otter Pup 2 mission should be completed some time in the second half of the year, depending on how quickly it can get through the approach and initial docking phases.
Demonstrating technologies and procedures
A key goal of the mission is to demonstrate the rendezvous and docking technologies needed for the company’s future Otter missions. Starfish Space has signed contracts with Intelsat, NASA and the U.S. Space Force for missions that range from satellite life extension to inspection of orbital debris.
The mission will also test procedures for rendezvous and proximity operations, or RPO, an area that raises safety and security issues. “The industry is still relatively new, in the commercial senses, for interacting in orbit regularly,” Bennett said. “There are not really clear constructs around what the expectations are to go and engage in orbit.”
There have been efforts by industry groups like CONFERS to develop best practices, but he said the mission will have the ability to demonstrate those practices and provide a precedent on how to safely and responsibly operate near another spacecraft.
“There’s this fear of doing a docking or fear of doing close proximity operations,” he said, despite extensive experience on various government missions. If something goes wrong, “there’s always a perception that this is going to create a huge amount of debris.”
He noted that, on close approach, Otter Pup 2 will be traveling very slowly relative to the D-Orbit ION tug. Otter Pup 2 will also use trajectories on approach that make a collision with the D-Orbit vehicle almost impossible if something malfunctions.
“What we can do is we can take this problem that is the fear of RPO, or even with docking, and break it down into the pieces that contribute to uncertainty,” he said. “Our goal with Otter Pup 2 is to show that our understanding of relative orbits, our understanding of the algorithms, our understanding of the navigation solutions, actually do address these larger questions on people’s minds.”
Market demand
Bennett said that Starfish Space is seeing interest from both government and commercial customers for its satellite servicing capabilities. The commercial interest includes both life extension of GEO satellites as well as unspecified “exciting opportunities” in low Earth orbit.
The government interest, including its existing NASA and Space Force contracts, have helped smooth over any regulatory issues. “From an approval perspective, it’s almost a pull. They want to see this happen,” he said. “Those agencies that would otherwise be very particular about this are actually saying let’s go do this.”
There is some skepticism, though, in government about the need for satellite services. Space Force officials have reiterated in recent weeks their doubts about the utility of satellite refueling in particular, questioning if it would be more efficient to simple replace fuel-depleted satellites.
Bennett said Starfish has a good relationship with the Space Force, which awarded the company a $37.5 million contract a year ago to dock with a satellite in GEO and provide “augmented maneuver” capabilities. That contract, he argued, carried more weight than the recent statements.
“I think the real actions and the real efforts are when they put money behind it, when there’s a contract to go do an Otter,” he said. “That’s where I would put the most weight, because at the end of the day, it’s where the money is, and the money follows their real priorities and intentions.”
