{"id":2105,"date":"2026-01-22T09:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starfish-space-wins-sda-contract-for-first-ever-satellite-deorbit-as-a-service-mission\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T09:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:33:17","slug":"starfish-space-wins-sda-contract-for-first-ever-satellite-deorbit-as-a-service-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starfish-space-wins-sda-contract-for-first-ever-satellite-deorbit-as-a-service-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfish Space Wins SDA Contract for First-Ever Satellite Deorbit-as-a-Service Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Starfish<\/p>\n

Starfish Space announced it has been awarded a $52.5 million contract by the U.S. Space Force\u2019s Space Development Agency (SDA) to provide Deorbit-as-a-Service (DaaS) for satellites within the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), marking the first contracted mission for end-of-life satellite disposal service in history.<\/p>\n

Under the contract, Starfish Space will build, launch, and operate an Otter spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) to safely and efficiently dispose of SDA satellites at the end of their operational lives. The mission begins with an initial deorbit, with options for multiple additional deorbits, enabled by Otter\u2019s significant capacity and ability to service several satellites in a single mission. The mission is targeting launch in 2027.<\/p>\n

As LEO constellations continue to expand and require refresh cycles, operators must expend increasing effort managing end-of-life disposal safely, reliably, and at scale. Until now, operators have only had two options for managing end-of-life: actively deorbit satellites prematurely to mitigate risk of early failure and resulting operational hazards, or fly satellites for longer and contend with increasing debris and risks across their constellation. With Deorbit-as-a-Service provided by Otter, Starfish gives constellation operators a better alternative: maximize the operational life and value of their constellations and rely on Otter to dispose of any satellites that cannot dispose of themselves at end-of-life.<\/p>\n

This contract represents the first dedicated end-of-life disposal mission for a LEO constellation, and a major step forward in transitioning end-of-life servicing from concept to operational reality.<\/p>\n

\n

Also Read: What is Payload Integration in CubeSats & Small Satellites?<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis contract and mission are proof that end-of-life satellite disposal provided by<\/em> Otter<\/em> can provide real value to LEO constellation operators,\u201d said Austin Link, co-founder of Starfish Space.<\/strong> \u201cWith Otter, we\u2019ve dramatically reduced the cost and complexity of satellite servicing across orbits. This contract reflects both the value of affordable servicing missions and the technical readiness of the Otter.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Otter is designed to capture and deorbit satellites without requiring any prior modifications, allowing Starfish to service existing and future spacecraft already deployed or planned for within the PWSA constellation.<\/p>\n

This mission builds on a previously awarded competitive mission study contract, which Starfish successfully executed for SDA throughout 2024\u20132025.<\/p>\n

For SDA, the mission represents an investment in the long-term viability of the PWSA, demonstrating that the agency is not only rapidly deploying satellites but also planning ahead to maximize the capabilities that PWSA can deliver.<\/p>\n

More broadly, the mission will demonstrate how commercial Deorbit-as-a-Service can support both government and commercial constellation operators, maximizing the value and capabilities LEO operators can derive from their constellations as they continue to scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starfish Space announced it has been awarded a $52.5 million contract by the U.S. Space Force\u2019s Space Development Agency (SDA) to provide Deorbit-as-a-Service (DaaS) for satellites within the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), marking the first contracted mission for end-of-life satellite disposal service in history. Under the contract, Starfish Space will build, launch, and operate […]<\/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":[25,38,20],"class_list":["post-2105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-launch","tag-leo","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105"}],"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=2105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}