Plate Nº 15 · recorded November 10, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
Starfish Space Loses Contact With First Otter Satellite, NASA Tech Demo Ends
A fault-protection error on the Astro Digital-built bus switched off Otter 24C's radio one month after launch, ending NASA's SSPICY debris-inspection demo.
By Nathan Brooks3 min read638 words
In brief
- Starfish Space lost contact with Otter 24C on Nov. 3, one month after its Oct. 1 launch.
- A fault-protection error on the Astro Digital satellite bus turned off the radio; the craft is deemed not recoverable.
- Otter 24C was flying NASA's SSPICY demo, planning to inspect up to four dead U.S. objects over two years.
- Otter Pup 2 reached within 82 feet (25 meters) of Gilmour Space's ElaraSat and now has only docking left.
- No two private satellites have ever docked in low Earth orbit.
Starfish Space lost contact with its first Otter servicing satellite on Nov. 3, ending a NASA technology demonstration just one month after launch. The Seattle startup, NASA and satellite-bus maker Astro Digital have jointly concluded that the 739-pound (335-kilogram) spacecraft, Otter 24C, is not recoverable.
The culprit, according to the company's investigation, was a fault-protection error on the satellite bus supplied by California-based Astro Digital. That error switched off the radio and made it impossible to re-establish communications. "While working through commissioning steps, Starfish eventually stopped receiving data from Otter 24C," the company wrote in a Nov. 3 post on X.
What was Otter 24C supposed to do?
Otter 24C launched Oct. 1 aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission, which carried 130 payloads to low Earth orbit — among them a prototype for Project Suncatcher, Google's planned AI constellation. The spacecraft was still in commissioning, the early shakeout phase of a mission, when the glitch struck. It never attempted a single orbital rendezvous.
The flight was Otter's spaceflight debut, and it carried real scientific weight. NASA had selected the craft for a mission called Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability, or SSPICY. The plan called for Otter 24C to approach and inspect up to four inoperable space objects of U.S. origin over two years, performing detailed visual inspections along the way.
The goal, according to NASA's SSPICY site, was to "demonstrate technologies necessary for future debris-removal missions as well as for future applications in the servicing and inspection of active spacecraft."
The agency framed the stakes more broadly. SSPICY, NASA said, "advances NASA's in-space manufacturing and assembly (ISAM) goals to ensure a sustainable space operating environment" and builds toward a future where objects can be assembled, repaired and maintained in orbit — capabilities that would significantly expand science and human exploration.
Starfish Space fit the mission profile neatly. The startup wants to become a major player in satellite servicing, using its Otter line to repair, refuel or deorbit other operators' spacecraft for paying customers.
Is this the end for Starfish's servicing ambitions?
By the company's own telling, no. Starfish said it is implementing fixes to reduce the chance the radio-killing fault recurs, and it argued the failure still produced value.
"The work completed through Otter 24C will directly contribute to the success of future Otter missions, as Starfish continues developing the technologies and operations required to make satellite servicing a routine capability in orbit," the company said.
The claim isn't purely rhetorical. Commissioning failures early in a program are common in the small-satellite industry, and the data gathered before contact was lost typically feeds directly into the next build.
What happens next in orbit?
Starfish already has a second act underway in low Earth orbit. Its Otter Pup 2 prototype, launched in June 2025, is closing in on another private spacecraft: Gilmour Space's ElaraSat.
The approach is going well enough to make history look plausible. Last week, Starfish announced that Otter Pup 2 had come within 82 feet (25 meters) of its target — roughly the length of a blue whale, with two spacecraft instead of one mammal.
"With this progress, Otter Pup 2 has officially completed Characterize, the penultimate phase of its mission," the company wrote in an Oct. 27 post on X. "That leaves just one phase left: attempting docking, and a chance to make history."
That history is specific. Two private satellites have docked before, but only in geostationary orbit, more than 22,000 miles above Earth. No such docking has ever happened in low Earth orbit. If Otter Pup 2 pulls it off, Starfish will have a working answer to the question Otter 24C left hanging: whether its servicing technology can actually operate around other spacecraft.
via space.com (Source)
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Market editor covering companies, deals and strategy in general science news at SciBeat.
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