Autonomous and Affordable Satellite Servicing: Our Investment in Starfish Space
The space economy is reaching new heights. There has been unprecedented growth in recent years, and the industry is estimated to reach $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2040. Catalyzed by advancements in manufacturing and propulsion capabilities, and fueled by a surge in funding from the private sector, 2022 marked a record year for the space sector with the successful launch of more than 2,400 satellites to orbit. As this number grows, with projections of over 100,000 satellites in space by 2030, so does the need for a safe, affordable way to service the many satellites orbiting the planet.
Currently, launched satellites are discontinued and left in the ‘graveyard orbit’ when they reach the end of their fuel supply or face irreparable operational barriers. Replacement satellites are then built and launched to take the previous vehicles’ place — a process that is costly and time-consuming. Finite satellite lifetimes and the constant replacement of retired vehicles have led to the gradual accumulation of space debris.
That is why we are excited to announce Toyota Ventures’ investment in Starfish Space as part of our Frontier Fund. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company is developing the Otter servicing vehicle to extend life in high-orbit Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO) satellites and dispose of space debris in low Earth orbit (LEO). It’s a critical part of the infrastructure needed for the burgeoning space economy.
“Safely docking with a generic space satellite, without a pre-defined docking interface, is an exceedingly difficult engineering challenge. With their Otter servicing vehicle, Starfish Space has the unique satellite rendezvous, docking, and propulsion technologies to unlock the huge orbital space services market. Even at this early stage, they have an enviable customer pipeline, and we look forward to supporting them as they pioneer commercial orbital services.” — Jim Adler, founder and general partner, Toyota Ventures
Starfish Space was founded in 2019 by CEO Austin Link and CTO Trevor Bennett, who bring deep expertise in aerospace engineering from their time at Blue Origin, NASA and Lockheed Martin. Together, the pair has assembled a stellar team to execute on the company’s mission of maximizing the ROI of satellites — starting with life extension and safe disposal missions.
The company’s Otter servicing vehicles use Starfish Space’s proprietary technology for capture, guidance, and navigation. The capture mechanism, Nautilus, uses electrostatic adhesion to stick to flat surfaces, allowing Otters to dock with any satellite in space without requiring customization. The guidance software, CEPHALOPOD, autonomously plans, executes, and refines the mission in real-time, continuously optimizing Otter’s trajectory and aborting if any unsafe conditions for docking are detected. The navigation system, CETACEAN, uses binocular computer vision and Kalman filters to help estimate the relative position, velocity, and uncertainty to enable optimal pathways for docking.
All three components enable Otter to seamlessly dock and attach to large geostationary satellites — providing propulsion and extending useful life by five more years. Additionally, the system is able to drag dead satellites in LEO to a lower orbit to burn up and avoid collisions that could destroy billions in assets. Currently, the team expects to be able to service 10 disposals in LEO per Otter, and extend the life of a GEO satellite by five years per Otter. Starfish Space will use a small Otter Pup vehicle when it attempts the first-ever docking of two commercial satellites in LEO later this year.
Toyota Ventures is proud to support the Starfish Space team as they work to accelerate the development of the full Otter vehicle and launch the first Otter Pup mission in the summer of 2023. Toyota Ventures’ founder and general partner Jim Adler and Frontier Fund senior associate Chris Abshire drove our participation in Starfish Space’s $14 million funding round, which was led by Munich Re Ventures. Additional participation included existing investors PSL Ventures, NFX, and MaC VC.
Visit the Starfish Space website or the Toyota Ventures portfolio page to learn more.
