Starfish to attempt first commercial satellite docking in low Earth orbit
Seattle, Washington — [May 20, 2025] — Starfish Space today announced its next demonstration mission, Otter Pup 2, set to launch this summer. Building on the heritage of the Otter Pup 1 mission, Otter Pup 2 will conduct rendezvous, proximity operations, and ultimately attempt docking with another spacecraft, an unprepared satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO). If successful, this will be the first commercial satellite docking in LEO.
In addition, a successful docking of Otter Pup 2 would validate Starfish’s uniquely affordable approach to satellite servicing. Since the start of the Space Age, humanity has sent satellites into orbit knowing they’ll be on their own. With no affordable, practical options for servicing once in orbit, satellites must be entirely self-sufficient—greatly constraining how they can be built, how much they can do, and how long they can last.
Starfish Space was founded to change this paradigm, starting with the Otter satellite servicing vehicle. As a demonstration platform supporting Otter, Otter Pup 2 will give Starfish the opportunity to test key software and hardware technologies in orbit, paving the way for the company’s first Otter missions for Intelsat, the U.S. Space Force, and NASA in 2026.
“If successful, this mission will further validate our unique approach to satellite servicing: taking complex problems that were traditionally solved with hardware and instead solving them with software,” said Trevor Bennett, co-founder at Starfish Space. “This allows us to make Otters an order of magnitude smaller than other servicing vehicles—making them faster to build, faster to launch, and finally closing the business case for satellite servicing to scale across the space industry.”
A set of key partners throughout the space industry have helped Starfish bring the Otter Pup 2 mission to life. The satellite bus was manufactured and integrated by Astro Digital, and the vehicle is equipped with electric propulsion thrusters from ThrustMe and the Argus camera system from Redwire. Additionally, Honeybee Robotics has contributed components that are part of Starfish’s Nautilus capture mechanism. The mission will launch aboard the Transporter-14 rideshare mission with SpaceX. A D-Orbit ION spacecraft will serve as the client satellite for the mission.
Media inquiries:
Jen Thompson
jen@starfishspace.com
503.724.4076
About Starfish Space:
Starfish Space, based in Tukwila, Washington, provides satellite servicing missions with its Otter servicing vehicle, including life extension missions for geostationary satellites and disposal missions for low Earth orbit satellites. Founded in 2019, Starfish has raised over $50M in venture capital funding to-date and built a team of engineers with experience spanning satellite guidance, navigation, control, and autonomous robotics. Starfish launched its first satellite, Otter Pup 1, in 2023, and is now focused on executing the first three Otter satellite servicing missions for NASA, the US Space Force, and Intelsat. For more information, please visit starfishspace.com.
Mission Highlights:
The Otter Pup 2 mission will attempt the first-ever docking with an unprepared commercial satellite in low Earth orbit, generating valuable data and helping validate core Starfish rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) technologies in the process.
- Historic docking: Otter Pup 2 will attempt to dock with a commercial satellite—a first in LEO. The client satellite will be unprepared, meaning it has not been modified for this mission, reflecting the current reality of most satellites in orbit.
- Launch & Docking Timeline: Otter Pup 2 will launch aboard the Transporter-14 rideshare mission with SpaceX scheduled for no earlier than June 2025, with docking attempts planned for later in the year.
- Client Satellite: A D-Orbit ION spacecraft will serve as the client satellite for the mission, building upon the partnership initiated by Otter Pup 1’s rendezvous with ION SCV006 in April 2024.
- Autonomous Operations: At multiple stages of the mission, Otter Pup 2 will demonstrate fully autonomous RPOD capabilities.
Key Starfish Technologies Onboard:
Otter Pup 2 carries the core autonomous software and robotics systems that enable the full Otter servicing vehicle:
- CETACEAN: Starfish’s proprietary computer vision-based navigation software, allowing the vehicle to estimate position and orientation relative to a client satellite.
- CEPHALOPOD: Autonomous guidance and control software that plans and executes safe approach and docking maneuvers. Capable of transforming any spacecraft, electric or chemical propulsion, into an RPOD vehicle.
- Nautilus: A universal docking mechanism enabling docking without the need for prepared fixtures or surfaces on the client satellite. Otter Pup 2 will fly an electrostatic version of Nautilus, designed to adhere to flat surfaces of various materials commonly found on satellites.
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