Tukwila, Wash.-based Starfish Space has actually been granted a $54.5 million agreement to generate an additional Otter satellite maintenance spacecraft for the united state Area Pressure’s Area Solutions Command.
The offer, announced this week, improves a $37.5 million Space Systems Command contract that was granted in 2024 via the Division of the Flying force’s Strategic Financing Rise program, orSTRATFI This brand-new agreement is moneyed via a Government program called Speed up the Purchase and Fielding of Cutting-edge Technologies, or APFIT.
Starfish kept in mind that the honor is the only APFIT agreement released to a room business in the existing cycle and rankings amongst the biggest in the program’s background.
Austin Link, founder of Starfish Area, claimed his business was “pleased to expand our collaboration with the Area Pressure under the APFIT program.”
” APFIT is an essential program in transitioning systems like Otter from advancement to released ability,”Link said today in a news release “With vibrant area procedures and independent enhanced maneuver, we allow the Area Pressure to maintain vital area properties, boost strength and keep functional versatility throughout progressing goal needs.”
Like the earlier agreement, the brand-new one contacts Starfish to give an Otter spacecraft for vibrant area procedures in geosynchronous Planet orbit. Shipment is set up for 2028, with a choice for 2 years of functional assistance.
Created for independent examination and docking, the Otter will certainly can servicing satellites also if they weren’t initially developed for on-orbit changes. Otter would certainly have the ability to relocate satellites right into greater orbits to expand their lives, or push them right into reduced orbits for secure disposal. Simply last month, Starfish secured a separate $52.5 million contract from the Area Pressure’s Area Advancement Company for armed forces satellite disposal.
A model called Otter Puppy 2 was launched last year and has actually been undertaking orbital examinations. 3 full-blown Otters are presently awaiting launch– one for the Area Solutions Command, one for a satellite maneuvering demonstration moneyed by the SES satellite business, and one for a NASA-funded satellite inspection mission.
Starfish Area was started in 2019 by Web link and Trevor Bennett, both previous designers at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Beginning area endeavor. In 2024, Starfish reported raising $29 million in an investment round that made it possible for the business to finish the advancement of the very first 3 Otters. At the time, Starfish claimed its overall advancing financing totaled up to concerning $50 million.
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