Tukwila, Wash.-based Starfish Space and two other companies have won contracts from the National Reconnaissance Office, America’s spy satellite agency, to evaluate advanced technologies for space operations.
Starfish’s work for the NRO will focus on potential applications for the startup’s Otter spacecraft, which is designed to inspect and hook up with other satellites in orbit, either for servicing or for safe disposal.
“This collaboration offers a valuable opportunity to assess how Otter can enhance our national space-based intelligence infrastructure,” Starfish Space said today in a posting to X / Twitter.
The contracts were awarded under terms laid out by the NRO’s Office of Space Launch for a program known as Broad Agency Announcements for Agile Launch Innovation and Strategic Technology Advancement, or BALISTA. Eric Zarybnisky, the director of the Office of Space Launch, said in a statement that the BALISTA effort will help NRO “advance emerging technologies across launch, on-orbit support, and command and control.”
The two other BALISTA contracts went to Texas-based Cognitive Space, which is developing automated tools for managing satellite operations with the aid of artificial intelligence; and California-based Impulse Space, which is working on in-space transportation services for satellites. Impulse Space was founded by rocket engineer Tom Mueller, who was the first employee hired at SpaceX. The value of the contracts was not made public.
Starfish was founded in 2019 by Trevor Bennett and Austin Link, both of whom are alumni of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. The company tested a scaled-down prototype for Otter, known as Otter Pup, during an orbital demonstration mission that was launched last year and went on for months under trying circumstances.
This year, Starfish struck a $37.5 million deal with the U.S. Space Force to execute a first-of-its-kind mission that involves having the full-scale Otter dock with and maneuver national security assets in geostationary Earth orbit.
Starfish has also signed a contract with Intelsat to provide on-orbit life extension services to a geostationary satellite beginning in 2026, and has been put in charge of a $15 million NASA mission aimed at inspecting multiple U.S.-owned defunct satellites in orbit, beginning in 2027.
