Tukwila, Wash.-based Starfish Space has signed a contract with Intelsat to provide on-orbit life extension services to a geostationary satellite beginning in 2026.
It’s the first commercial contract for Starfish’s Otter satellite servicing spacecraft, which is currently under development. The deal follows up on Starfish’s $37.5 million contract with the U.S. Space Force for a satellite docking demonstration.
“Starfish Space is delighted to be supporting Intelsat with services provided by Otter,” Starfish Space co-founder Trevor Bennett said today in a news release. “They are an incredible team at the forefront of the industry, and the Otter will help them deliver even more to their customers. We’re also excited that this will be the first of many Otters that will make on-orbit servicing a standard part of satellite operations.”
Jean-Luc Froeliger, Intelsat’s senior vice president of space systems, said the Otter contract serves as a “perfect example” of Intelsat’s commitment to innovation and new technologies. “We look forward to utilizing the services provided by their Otter satellite to maximize the value the world’s largest geostationary satellite fleet can deliver for our customers,” Froeliger said.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed, and Intelsat isn’t saying exactly which satellite will be serviced. The plan calls for Otter to begin by docking with and maneuvering a retired Intelsat satellite in geostationary graveyard orbit. Then Otter would move on to dock with an operational Intelsat satellite. Otter would use its onboard propulsion system to keep that satellite in an operational orbit for additional years of life.
Starfish isn’t the only company on board to provide satellite life extension services for Intelsat. During a landmark 2020 mission, Northrop Grumman’s MEV-1 servicing spacecraft docked with a retired Intelsat satellite to move it into an operational orbit. A year later, Northrop Grumman’s MEV-2 hooked up with an operational but aging Intelsat satellite for refueling. In April, Intelsat announced a deal with Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics subsidiary to have a mission extension “jet pack” installed on a satellite in orbit.
The technologies that will go into Otter were tested over the past year during Starfish Space’s Otter Pup demonstration mission. That mission ran up against a series of challenges but ended up showing how Starfish’s orbital maneuvering system could be employed to rendezvous with other satellites in orbit. Otter could be used to refuel or maneuver satellites to extend their life — or deorbit them when they’re no longer useful.
Bennett and Starfish Space’s other co-founder, Austin Link, are both veterans of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. The startup was founded in 2019 and has attracted a little more than $21 million in total investment as of last year. It has also won technology development contracts from NASA as well as the Space Force.
