Starfish Space Achieves Successful Satellite Rendezvous with D-Orbit’s ION

Starfish Space, in partnership with D-Orbit, announced the successful on-orbit rendezvous between Starfish’s Otter Pup and D-Orbit’s ION SCV006 satellite.

The Starfish team meticulously planned and executed precise maneuvers for the ION spacecraft, leading to the successful rendezvous. During this operation, Otter Pup captured images of the ION spacecraft as it maneuvered nearby.

*Image captured by Otter Pup of ION-SCV006 on April 19th at a distance of approximately 3km. Credits: Starfish Space*

This achievement marks a remarkable engineering feat and represents a pivotal step towards realizing cost-effective satellite servicing solutions.

The operations

After successfully overcoming initial rotation rates exceeding 330 degrees per second and addressing a thruster anomaly during subsequent commissioning, Starfish aimed to optimize the utilization of Otter Pup for testing and validating its core technologies.

In January, Starfish and D-Orbit collaboratively decided to undertake a rendezvous mission. Collaborative planning for the rendezvous commenced with close cooperation between the teams at Starfish and D-Orbit to evaluate the mission’s feasibility, considering that the ION satellite was not initially intended for such operations.

Then, the Starfish Team directed D-Orbit to execute fine-tuned maneuvers, positioning the ION spacecraft in close proximity to Otter Pup. Under close scrutiny, Otter Pup captured very unique images of the ION satellite as it navigated in its proximity.

In mid-April, Otter Pup and ION were in the right configuration for the rendezvous attempt. ION gradually approached Otter Pup, converging to within approximately 1 kilometer. On Friday, April 19th, Otter Pup maneuvered to align its cameras and successfully captured images of ION, signaling the success of the rendezvous.

Two companies gathering data

“Beyond validating a core capability, these images will provide invaluable data for our ongoing GNC software development,” said Dr. Trevor Bennett, Co-Founder of Starfish Space. “It allowed us to increase our satellite operations experience, and to test and validate software and hardware on-orbit, including the camera system that was used to capture these images,” he added.

The success of this endeavor highlights the reliability and precision of D-Orbit’s ION spacecraft. The Italian company, with 12 ION launched to date, is already a leading provider of space logistics and orbital transportation services.

D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier is a flexible in-orbit transportation system for CubeSats and microsatellites. It can accurately place payloads where they need to be in orbit thanks to its inbuilt orbital propulsion system. — *D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier is a flexible in-orbit transportation system for CubeSats and microsatellites. Credits: D-Orbit*

Matteo Bartolini, VP Sales Engineering at D-Orbit, lauded the achievement, stating, “This operation not only demonstrates the precision and reliability of our ION spacecraft but also highlights the robust capabilities of our teams working in concert with Starfish.”

Acknowledgments were extended to Redwire Space, which provided the camera system, LeoLabs, which provided on-orbit state data, and Astro Digital for their operational support for Otter Pup.

“Executing this rendezvous means we absolutely maximized the value we could get out of Otter Pup, in spite of the numerous challenges we faced,” stated Dr. Bennett. “We were able to execute this task as a backup after multiple challenges and failures. This was a rewarding way to conclude our first demonstration mission.”