Alan Boyle
Wed, June 21, 2023
In this clean-room photo, Starfish Space’s Otter Pup docking spacecraft is attached to the top of Launcher’s Orbiter SN3 space tug. (Launcher / Starfish Space Photo)
Starfish Space’s ambitious mission to test its on-orbit satellite docking system has taken an unfortunate turn — or, more precisely, an unfortunate spin.
The Tukwila, Wash.-based startup’s Otter Pup spacecraft was one of 72 payloads sent into low Earth orbit on June 12 by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for Transporter-8, a dedicated rideshare mission. Otter Pup and several other spacecraft were attached to Launcher’s Orbiter SN3, a space tug that’s designed to release piggyback payloads at different times.
Soon after Orbiter SN3 separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage, it experienced an anomaly that set it spinning at a rate on the order of one revolution per second, far outside the bounds of normal operating conditions.
By the time Launcher’s team made contact with Orbiter, fuel and power levels were critically low — and the team made an emergency decision to deploy Otter Pup immediately. In a joint statement issued today, Launcher and Starfish Space said that quick action “gave the Otter Pup mission a chance to continue.”
With assistance from Astro Digital and ground station partners, Starfish’s team contacted Otter Pup and determined that it was generating power — but was also spinning because of the circumstances of its emergency deployment.
Starfish co-founder Austin Link told GeekWire that the spacecraft, which is about the size of a dorm-room fridge, has drifted several kilometers away from its Orbiter mothership. “They’re still in the same orbital neighborhood,” he said.
Starfish’s mission plan called for Otter Pup to execute a series of maneuvers leading up to a rendezvous and docking with Orbiter. Such maneuvers would demonstrate that Starfish’s guidance and navigation system, electric propulsion system and electrostatic capture system all work in orbit as designed. But Link said the maneuvers can’t be done unless the spinning can be stabilized.
“We’re uncertain what the future for the vehicle is,” Link said. “It’ll be very challenging to de-tumble and arrest the momentum. There’s also a chance that things have been damaged by this rotation rate that would prevent us from being able to do the mission going forward.”
And as if that’s not challenging enough, Orbiter SN3 is no longer available as a docking target because of its own rotation rate. We’ve reached out to California-based Launcher, which was recently acquired by a space station startup known as Vast, and will update this report with anything we hear back.
“Otter Pup is still alive, but the mission is hanging on by a thread,” Link said.
In the months ahead, Starfish’s team will try to stabilize Otter Pup and determine the satellite’s health. Link said the primary method for reducing rotation relies on the spacecraft’s magnetic torque rods.
“These are effectively electromagnets that you can use to push off of Earth’s magnetic field to de-tumble the satellite,” he explained. “They’re designed for much lower rotation rates than what we’re experiencing now, but they may be able to make a difference.”
If Otter Pup is healthy, and if the rotation rate can be reduced, Starfish Space could look for other satellites in nearby orbits to serve as replacement docking partners. Or it could demonstrate its maneuverability without doing a docking.
“It’s going to be more of a challenge than what we wanted it to be for this Otter Pup,” Link said. “We’ll keep working to see if we have a chance to test out some of the key technologies for this Otter Pup, and we’ll also double down on other ways to test, both on orbit and terrestrially in the laboratory.”
If resurrecting the spinning Otter Pup is a lost cause, Link said “there are definitely scenarios where we would consider similar on-orbit demonstrations.” The important thing is to prove out the technologies so that Starfish’s team can move on to offering its customers a full-scale Otter docking craft to assist with satellite servicing or end-of-life disposal.
“It’s definitely not a mortal blow,” Link said. “The company’s fortunate to still be in a very strong position, with a great team and great technology and great customer interest. The on-orbit proof points for the technology are at the very least delayed, unfortunately, because of the position that Otter Pup was put in. But there are still a variety of paths forward for us to pursue. It’s still a really exciting future, and we’re really excited to chase after it.”
Starfish Space was founded in 2019 by Link and Trevor Bennett, both of whom previously worked as engineers at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. The startup has attracted a little more than $21 million in funding from investors including Munich Re Ventures, Toyota Ventures, PSL Ventures, NFX and MaC Venture Capital. It has also received a series of technology development grants from the U.S. Space Force and NASA.
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Launcher's Orbiter glitches in orbit, forcing emergency deployment of space startups' payloads
Image Credits: Launcher
Aria Alamalhodaei
Wed, June 21, 2023
Launcher's Orbiter spacecraft experienced an anomaly after reaching orbit that will likely result in the premature end of its customers' missions, including Starfish Space's Otter Pup demonstration mission.
Launcher and its customer Starfish Space released a joint statement Wednesday detailing what happened in the hours after the Orbiter spacecraft lifted off on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission earlier this month. While the spacecraft successfully separated from the launch vehicle, it experienced a software-related issue that induced a high rate of rotation. This issue, in addition to critically low fuel and battery levels, forced Launcher to make the “emergency decision” to deploy customer payloads earlier than anticipated.
As a result of the early deployment, Starfish’s Otter Pup demo satellite also started experiencing high rotation. While Starfish confirmed that its satellite is alive, the mission — in which Otter Pup was going to attempt to rendezvous and dock with Orbiter — will not be able to continue until the satellite is stabilized in orbit.
“Given the events experienced post-launch and the current state of the satellite, it is unlikely that Otter Pup will be able to continue with its mission,” Starfish said in a statement. “However, we will continue to try to save Otter Pup, and we are grateful for the continued support of our partners.”
Starfish co-founder Austin Link told TechCrunch that, as a first step, the company will attempt to reduce the spacecraft's spin rate using on-board torque rods — essentially electromagnets that push off Earth's magnetic field to affect attitude control and tumbling. From there, the company will need to run a series of check-outs to ensure that all the vehicle's components are still working properly.
"Are things still working on the spacecraft or are they just broken at this point, because we're really well outside of the bounds of what various pieces of hardware are designed or expected to see on orbit," he said.
He added that the Otter Pup is currently spinning at a rate of one full rotation per second, while spacecraft are generally designed to handle a spin rate of just one or two degrees per second.
"We're a couple orders of magnitude outside of the normal operation bounds," he said.
For its part, Launcher says it eventually lost contact with Orbiter due to “non-optimal solar array pointing,” but that it will continue to try to re-establish contact in case the spacecraft is able to charge its batteries again. Launcher said that it had already identified the likely root cause.
In addition to Starfish Space’s Otter Pup demo satellite, Orbiter was also carrying several other customer payloads, including cubesats from Innova Space and TRL11, a space startup developing video for in-space applications.
Although Launcher’s Orbiter mission was named SN3, it is actually only the second time the Orbiter Launcher has actually launched. The first mission, called SN1, took place at the beginning of January and also ended in failure due to an issue with the spacecraft’s power systems. Launcher is planning on sending up its third Orbiter mission in February 2024, followed by two more flights that year.
Launcher was acquired by Vast, a space station company founded by Jed McCaleb, in February of this year for an undisclosed amount.
TechCrunch has reached out to Launcher for additional comment and will update the story if they respond.
The story has been updated to include Starfish’s comments and to reflect that torque rods push off the Earth’s magnetic field.
Image Credits: Launcher
Aria Alamalhodaei
Wed, June 21, 2023
Launcher's Orbiter spacecraft experienced an anomaly after reaching orbit that will likely result in the premature end of its customers' missions, including Starfish Space's Otter Pup demonstration mission.
Launcher and its customer Starfish Space released a joint statement Wednesday detailing what happened in the hours after the Orbiter spacecraft lifted off on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission earlier this month. While the spacecraft successfully separated from the launch vehicle, it experienced a software-related issue that induced a high rate of rotation. This issue, in addition to critically low fuel and battery levels, forced Launcher to make the “emergency decision” to deploy customer payloads earlier than anticipated.
As a result of the early deployment, Starfish’s Otter Pup demo satellite also started experiencing high rotation. While Starfish confirmed that its satellite is alive, the mission — in which Otter Pup was going to attempt to rendezvous and dock with Orbiter — will not be able to continue until the satellite is stabilized in orbit.
“Given the events experienced post-launch and the current state of the satellite, it is unlikely that Otter Pup will be able to continue with its mission,” Starfish said in a statement. “However, we will continue to try to save Otter Pup, and we are grateful for the continued support of our partners.”
Starfish co-founder Austin Link told TechCrunch that, as a first step, the company will attempt to reduce the spacecraft's spin rate using on-board torque rods — essentially electromagnets that push off Earth's magnetic field to affect attitude control and tumbling. From there, the company will need to run a series of check-outs to ensure that all the vehicle's components are still working properly.
"Are things still working on the spacecraft or are they just broken at this point, because we're really well outside of the bounds of what various pieces of hardware are designed or expected to see on orbit," he said.
He added that the Otter Pup is currently spinning at a rate of one full rotation per second, while spacecraft are generally designed to handle a spin rate of just one or two degrees per second.
"We're a couple orders of magnitude outside of the normal operation bounds," he said.
For its part, Launcher says it eventually lost contact with Orbiter due to “non-optimal solar array pointing,” but that it will continue to try to re-establish contact in case the spacecraft is able to charge its batteries again. Launcher said that it had already identified the likely root cause.
In addition to Starfish Space’s Otter Pup demo satellite, Orbiter was also carrying several other customer payloads, including cubesats from Innova Space and TRL11, a space startup developing video for in-space applications.
Although Launcher’s Orbiter mission was named SN3, it is actually only the second time the Orbiter Launcher has actually launched. The first mission, called SN1, took place at the beginning of January and also ended in failure due to an issue with the spacecraft’s power systems. Launcher is planning on sending up its third Orbiter mission in February 2024, followed by two more flights that year.
Launcher was acquired by Vast, a space station company founded by Jed McCaleb, in February of this year for an undisclosed amount.
TechCrunch has reached out to Launcher for additional comment and will update the story if they respond.
The story has been updated to include Starfish’s comments and to reflect that torque rods push off the Earth’s magnetic field.
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