Orbit Fab wants to build gas stations in space, but for its latest contract win, perhaps petrol is the right word.
Today Orbit Fab announced it landed the first stage of a contract from ESA and the UK Space Agency worth £1.3M ($1.7M) to demonstrate in-space refueling capabilities by 2028 alongside a consortium of European partners from the UK, Austria, and Lithuania.
The Advance Satcom Technology with Refueling and Logistics, or ASTRAL contract is co-funded through ESA’s ARTES program and carries a total value of $3.8M.
The mission: Colorado-based Orbit Fab has already hit several milestones in its progression to regular and reliable refueling services, including resupplying the ISS and developing the only refueling valve approved by the US Space Force. ASTRAL, however, will represent a first in Europe and for Orbit Fab’s UK subsidiary.
“Our ASTRAL mission is all about building European capability to refuel satellites,” Orbit Fab UK managing director Jake Geer told Payload via email. The mission will be “the first to refuel Xenon using technology developed in Harwell, using European supply chains and partners.”
ASTRAL tasks the consortium with using Orbit Fab’s GRASP interface to dock with a target spacecraft on orbit and then transfer multiple propellants—Nitrous Oxide, Ethane, and Xenon—with Orbit Fab’s RAFTI fueling port. Consortium partners KISPE Space Systems, Gate Space Innovation, Blackswan Space, and Indra Deimos will help to design and develop many of the supporting technologies that will make the experiment a reality.
Fuel to the fire: While the mission is being driven by civil agencies, ASTRAL’s success has big implications for Europe’s sovereign defense goals at a time when governments across the continent are looking to build up self-reliance around critical space capabilities.
“Militaries across NATO see how higher orbits, and GEO in particular where many secure communication satellites operate, are becoming more contested,” Geer said. “The ability to have freedom of manoeuvre is now vital—and that all comes from having enough fuel.”
Geer told Payload that Orbit Fab expects to receive more funding and add additional European partners to the consortium as soon as the spring.
