SDA Awards First Contract to Take Old Satellites out of Orbit

The Space Development Agency wants to launch hundreds of satellites into low-Earth orbit over the next few years—and thanks to a new contract, it now has a way to get rid of some when their service life is over. Starfish Space announced the $52.5 million deal for “disposal as a service” on Jan. 21.

The startup firm is targeting 2027 to launch its Otter spacecraft, use it to dock with an SDA satellite, and drag it down. “The disposal process looks like Starfish climbing into the operational belts or orbits, docking with the client satellite that’s been selected; we will bring both of us down to a lower altitude, separate, let the client spacecraft then go through a faster cycle of de-orbiting,” Starfish cofounder Trevor Bennett told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Once a satellite reaches a ce