{"id":17270,"date":"2023-08-09T00:53:33","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T16:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starfish-space-wins-1-8m-to-keep-working-on-satellite-guidance-system-for-air-force\/"},"modified":"2023-08-09T00:53:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T16:53:33","slug":"starfish-space-wins-1-8m-to-keep-working-on-satellite-guidance-system-for-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starfish-space-wins-1-8m-to-keep-working-on-satellite-guidance-system-for-air-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfish Space wins $1.8M to keep working on satellite guidance system for Air Force"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/230807-cephalopod2-630x396.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-784933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/230807-cephalopod2-630x396.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/230807-cephalopod2-1260x791.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/230807-cephalopod2-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/230807-cephalopod2-1536x965.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/230807-cephalopod2.jpg 1710w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">A stylized illustration shows one satellite closing in to rendezvous with another satellite, with the aid of Starfish Space\u2019s Cephalopod guidance software. (Starfish Space Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kent, Wash.-based Starfish Space says it\u2019s been awarded $1.8 million by AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force, to support continued development of the company\u2019s Cephalopod software for satellite guidance, navigation and control.<\/p>\n<p>The award builds on previous collaborations between Starfish and the Air Force Research Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>Technically speaking, the contract is known as a Tactical Funding Increase, or TACFI. Ari Juster, strategy and operations lead at Starfish, said it was awarded as a follow-up to a $1.7 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract that the startup received in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>In a news release, Starfish co-founder Austin Link said he was \u201cexcited to continue our collaboration with AFRL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCephalopod can serve as a key technology enabling future servicing missions to benefit satellite operators, and we have found the AFRL team to be great partners in supporting its development,\u201d Link said.<\/p>\n<p>Cephalopod is a software platform that enables satellites powered by electric propulsion systems to rendezvous, conduct proximity operations and execute docking maneuvers with other objects in space autonomously. The software is built into Otter Pup, a demonstration spacecraft that was sent into low Earth orbit in June.<\/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>Otter Pup was designed to test Cephalopod and Starfish\u2019s other innovations under real-world orbital conditions. But when the Launcher space tug that was designed to put Otter Pup into its proper orbital position went into an extreme spin, Launcher\u2019s team made the emergency decision to deploy the satellite immediately. As a result, Otter Pup went into a tumble, and the Starfish team wasn\u2019t sure whether the satellite could rendezvous and re-dock with the space tug as planned.<\/p>\n<p>The Starfish team has been working for more than a month to \u201cde-tumble\u201d the satellite in hopes of rescuing the mission. \u201cThe satellite is still alive, and we remain in communication with it, though there are many challenges we are still working on,\u201d Juster told GeekWire in an email.<\/p>\n<p>Juster said the newly announced contract will complement the Otter Pup mission and enable Starfish to make substantial enhancements in the Cephalopod platform. \u201cThe initial period of performance will be 18 months, and though it will initially run in parallel to the Otter Pup mission, performance of this contract is not dependent on the status of Otter Pup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Starfish\u2019s long-term plan calls for building a full-featured satellite known as the Otter that could be used to service other satellites in orbit to extend their operating lives \u2014 or push them down to be deorbited when their work is done. The company was co-founded in 2019 by Link and Trevor Bennett, who previously worked for Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture in Kent.<\/p>\n<p>The startup has attracted more than $21 million in investment, including a $14 million Series A funding round that was announced in March. In addition to the work for the Air Force Research Laboratory, Starfish has also won contracts from NASA and the U.S. Space Force\u2019s SpaceWERX program.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Update for 4:15 p.m. PT Aug. 8:<\/strong> We\u2019ve revised the description of the anomaly that occurred during Otter Pup\u2019s deployment to state more clearly what happened.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A stylized illustration shows one satellite closing in to rendezvous with another satellite, with the aid of Starfish Space\u2019s Cephalopod guidance software. (Starfish Space Illustration) Kent, Wash.-based Starfish Space says it\u2019s been awarded $1.8 million by AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force, to support continued development of the company\u2019s Cephalopod [&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":[20,442,4344],"class_list":["post-17270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-starfish-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17270"}],"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=17270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}