{"id":17206,"date":"2024-05-08T00:46:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T16:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starfish-tests-satellite-rendezvous-system-and-wins-a-37-5m-space-force-contract\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T00:46:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T16:46:16","slug":"starfish-tests-satellite-rendezvous-system-and-wins-a-37-5m-space-force-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starfish-tests-satellite-rendezvous-system-and-wins-a-37-5m-space-force-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfish tests satellite rendezvous system \u2014 and wins a $37.5M Space Force contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221109-otterpup-630x352.jpg\" alt=\"Otter Pup satellite\" class=\"wp-image-735259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221109-otterpup-630x352.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221109-otterpup-1260x703.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221109-otterpup-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221109-otterpup-1536x857.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221109-otterpup.jpg 1675w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the Otter Pup satellite. (Starfish Space Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Months after Starfish Space said it was giving up on its plan to test its satellite docking system in orbit, due to a thruster failure, the Tukwila, Wash.-based startup managed to coax one last rendezvous out of its first space mission.<\/p>\n<p>And this week brought more good news for Starfish Space, in the form of a $37.5 million contract from the U.S. Space Force for further work on its in-space rendezvous and docking technology.<\/p>\n<p>Last month\u2019s close encounter involving Starfish\u2019s Otter Pup spacecraft and D-Orbit\u2019s ION SCV006 satellite wasn\u2019t as close as the original test plan called for, and it was up to ION to do all of the orbital maneuvering. Nevertheless, Starfish Space co-founder Trevor Bennett said the exercise brought Otter Pup\u2019s troubled mission to a successful close.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u201cExecuting this rendezvous means we absolutely maximized the value we could get out of Otter Pup, in spite of the numerous challenges we faced, from emergency deployment to thruster failure,\u201d Bennett said today in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Otter Pup was sent into orbit last June as a rideshare payload on SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket. Starfish planned to use Otter Pup to demonstrate its Cetacean computer vision system and Cephalopod trajectory planning software by having it back away from the orbital tug was attached to \u2014 and then having it return for a docking.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Otter Pup by Starfish Space\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QLWut6TFJBs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Unfortunately, Launcher\u2019s orbital tug went into a rapid spin soon after it was deployed from the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage. Mission managers made the emergency decision to deploy Otter Pup even though it had the same dizzying rate of spin. It took weeks for Starfish to get its tumbling spacecraft under control, and after all those weeks of jostling, Otter Pup\u2019s thruster was no longer able to provide thrust.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thruster failure ruled out Otter Pup attempting a docking mission,\u201d Starfish co-founder Austin Link said in comments that were emailed to GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that setback, Starfish\u2019s engineers continued to look for ways to run whatever tests they could. In January, they started collaborating with D-Orbit on a bold plan in which the ION satellite played a key role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarfish worked with D-Orbit to execute the rendezvous with ION by directing ION to fire its thrusters, while Otter Pup pointed its cameras to capture images of ION during the rendezvous attempts,\u201d Link said.<\/p>\n<p>Starfish calculated the plans for ION\u2019s maneuvers, and then passed the plans along to D-Orbit for uploading. \u201cThe Starfish team collaborated closely with D-Orbit throughout the mission, sharing telemetry and specific instructions to ensure ION was maneuvered successfully for the mission,\u201d Link explained. \u201cThe telemetry used to analyze and execute the rendezvous attempts came from both spacecraft, in addition to LeoLabs for third-party confirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the joint effort, Otter Pup was able to come within a kilometer (0.6 mile) of ION during a series of maneuvers in mid-April. \u201cOne kilometer was a close enough distance for Starfish to get significant value out of this mission without taking orbital safety risks,\u201d Link said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"381\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/otter-ion-630x381.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-821854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/otter-ion-630x381.png 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/otter-ion-768x464.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/otter-ion.png 903w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">An image of the ION SCV006 satellite was captured by Otter Pup\u2019s camera system on April 19 from a distance of about 3 kilometers. A magnified view is highlighted in an enlarged red square. \u201cWe were cheering and high-fiving when this image came through!\u201d a member of the Starfish team said. (Starfish Space Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even though there was no opportunity for a docking, Bennett said last month\u2019s maneuvers provided \u201cinvaluable data\u201d to guide further development of Starfish\u2019s guidance, navigation and control software.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContinuing to operate Otter Pup gave us a lot of value; it allowed us to increase our satellite operations experience, and to test and validate software and hardware on-orbit, including the camera system that was used to capture these images,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Does Otter Pup have any more tricks up its sleeve?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will be the last major milestone in the Otter Pup mission (for real this time!). Otter Pup\u2019s orbit will naturally decay over time, and it is expected to self-dispose within a few years,\u201d Link wrote in his email.<\/p>\n<p>Link said Starfish Space is already \u201cactively working toward the launch of a second Otter Pup mission,\u201d and there are even bigger Otters in the offing. Full-scale Otter spacecraft could be used for satellite servicing, satellite maneuvering and in-space refueling, or for the disposal of defunct satellites and other space debris.<\/p>\n<p>The newly announced $37.5 million Space Force contract will support the development of an Otter demonstration spacecraft over the course of the next four years. In its announcement of the fixed-price contract \u2014 which was awarded through the Strategic Funding Increase program, or STRATFI \u2014 the Department of Defense said the project\u2019s goal is to \u201cimprove maneuverability on-orbit and enable dynamic space operations docking and maneuvering of Department of Defense assets on-orbit.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the Otter Pup satellite. (Starfish Space Illustration) Months after Starfish Space said it was giving up on its plan to test its satellite docking system in orbit, due to a thruster failure, the Tukwila, Wash.-based startup managed to coax one last rendezvous out of its first space mission. And this week [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1653,20,442,4344],"class_list":["post-17206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-d-orbit","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-starfish-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}