SpaceX’s Rideshare Launch Kicks Off Milestone Mission for Starfish Space’s First Otter Space Vehicle

SpaceX’s rideshare launch kicks off milestone mission for Starfish Space’s first Otter space vehicle

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its California launch pad, sending 130 payloads into orbit. (Credit: SpaceX via X) Starfish Space’s first full-scale Otter satellite servicing vehicle went into orbit today, marking a major milestone for the Tukwila, Wash.-based startup. The Otter spacecraft was among 130 payloads launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Otter is roughly the size of a kitchen ove…

Can Starfish Turn Otter Into a Repeatable Satellite Servicing Business?

Starfish Space’s first full-scale Otter satellite-servicing vehicle launched on October 1, 2026, aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission. Its initial assignment is NASA’s Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability mission, known as SSPICY, which is intended to inspect inactive spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Launch places the vehicle where servicing must be proven, but it does not establish that Otter can safely approach targets, gather…

NASA's first commercial debris inspector has launched: Starfish Space's Otter will visit up to four dead satellites

Otter launched on 1 October. From 2027 it is due to fly within hundreds of metres of defunct US satellites to check their state.

Otter 24C Reaches Orbit for NASA’s Dead-Satellite Inspection Test

A 335-kilogram spacecraft built to inspect inactive satellites reached low Earth orbit on October 1. NASA confirmed that Otter 24C launched at 11:32 a.m. PDT on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare. The launch moves the SSPICY mission from a funded plan to an in-orbit engineering test. Starfish Space will now commission the vehicle before starting inspections in…

Starfish Space’s first Otter spacecraft goes into orbit

Starfish Space’s first full-scale Otter satellite servicing vehicle went into orbit today, marking a milestone for the Tukwila, Wash.-based startup. The Otter spacecraft was among 130 payloads launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Otter is roughly the size of a kitchen oven, with solar arrays that were […]