The Space Force is tapping Starfish Space to take out its trash—in orbit.
The military awarded the WA-based space startup a $52.5M contract to deorbit satellites in the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture constellation, when the sats reach their expiration date.
Starfish says this marks the first contracted mission for end-of-life satellite disposal services, in comparison to typical missions that treat disposal as a one-off or a demo.
More details: Starfish is set to launch an Otter spacecraft—which can deorbit multiple sats in one flight—for the mission in 2027. Under the contract, DoD can keep buying services to take down defunct sats beyond the initial deorbit.
Context: The contract follows the SDA awarding six contracts, worth a combined $1.9M in 2024, to study the feasibility of deorbiting PWSA sats. In addition to Starfish, Arkisys, Impulse Space, Quantum Space, Sierra Space, and SpaceWorks Enterprises previously won study contracts.
Running smoothly: DoD procuring deorbit as a service is about more than just being a good steward in LEO. Deorbiting sats helps the SDA fly its constellation as long as possible for a few reasons, according to Starfish cofounder Trevor Bennett.
- Continually dodging sats can zap fuel stores, shortening the life of satellites. By clearing out sats that are no longer working, DoD keeps the orbital lanes open for those sats still fulfilling their missions.
- Having a deorbit service at the ready allows the SDA to fly sats until they’re truly dead, rather than tasking the satellites to dispose of themselves when they still have the energy to do so.
What’s next: Bennett said he hopes others will see SDA’s buy-in as proof that the tech is ready to go—and that there is an economic benefit to disposal services.
“By SDA coming out and showing that there is value to them, that helps unburnden some of the concerns or thoughts that other industry players might have,” he said. “It’s hard to be the first, but easy to be the second.”
