Starfish Space is a satellite servicing company founded by former Blue Origin and NASA engineers.

Starfish Space, a startup that is eyeing a market for on-orbit satellite servicing, missions such as debris removal and satellite life extension, announced its $7 million raise in a round co-led by NFX and MaC Venture Capital, with participation from PSL Ventures, Boost VC, Liquid2 Ventures, and Hypothesis. (SPACEREF)

The Otter space tug

Starfish Space has raised the funds for developing its Otter space tug, a satellite servicing vehicle that can target, capture and move objects in space orbit. These objects may be in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – typically space debris; or Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) – usually large geostationary spacecraft.

It is envisioned that Otter could also serve as essential infrastructure in a future, off-world economy. On its website, Starfish says: “Starfish Space is focused on evolving technology for the off-world ecosystem through the engineering of their Otter space tug. Using novel RPO autonomy and robotics, Otter will be the first space tug of its kind, a new species in space.”

Because Otter is small and highly versatile, it will ultimately lower costs and boost availability for satellite servicing missions including life extension and active debris removal.

Starfish is also developing its CEPHALOPOD software to perform satellite Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD).

“At Starfish Space we’re trying to change the way humans interact with the universe around us,” says Austin Link, Co-Founder of Starfish Space. “There’s still a lot to do, but we’re now in a position to build on our early successes.”

“As space becomes more and more commercialized, we see huge opportunities to solve Earth’s problems in space,” says Adrian Fenty, MaC Venture Capital Managing General Partner. “Additionally, as space becomes more crowded and more regulated, we see a massive need for companies like Starfish to provide satellite services and deorbiting.

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Image credit: Starfish Space