Starfish Space will send its Otter servicing vehicle to a retired Intelsat satellite to rejuvenate the craft and extend its lifetime by several years.
The first commercial mission will take place in 2026.
The agreement with Intelsat is a continuation of the operator’s ongoing commitment to use satellite servicing technologies.
“For six decades, Intelsat has been committed to innovating and leveraging new technologies from across the industry,” said Jean-Luc Froeliger, senior vice president of Space Systems at Intelsat. “By engaging with emerging companies, we create unique value for Intelsat while fostering a dynamic, competitive environment that drives progress in space systems. Starfish is a perfect example of this type of progress, and we look forward to leveraging the services provided by their Otter satellite to maximize the value that the world’s largest geostationary satellite fleet can provide to our customers.”
Intelsat signed its first satellite life extension agreement in 2016 and has subsequently run multiple additional life extension missions. It has previously worked with Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics.
With its Otter spacecraft, Starfish Space uses small satellite architecture and revolutionary hardware and software technologies to deliver fast, flexible and cost-effective on-orbit servicing missions for satellites.
“Starfish Space is thrilled to support Intelsat with Otter services,” said Trevor Bennett, co-founder of Starfish Space. “They are an incredible, industry-leading team and Otter will help them deliver even more for their customers. We are also excited that this is the first of many Otters that will make on-orbit servicing a standard part of satellite operations.”
Starfish will begin its first servicing mission for Intelsat in 2026. Otter will initially dock with and maneuver a decommissioned Intelsat satellite in geostationary orbit. After this initial operation, Otter will dock with an operational Intelsat satellite and provide life extension service, using its onboard propulsion system to maintain the customer satellite in operational orbit for additional years of life.
