Otterworldly (3/9/23)

Good morning. While all eyes were on Relativity's launch livestream yesterday, SpaceX said it's targeting 2:13pm ET today for the next OneWeb launch from SLC-40. Cape Canaveral is a busy place these days…

In today's edition...🤖 Starfish raises Series A💹 A space IPO in Tokyo 👀 A SXSW space surprise📝 The contract report

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Starfish Raises Series A to Raise More Otters

Starfish Space, a Seattle-based startup developing satellite servicing spacecraft, has raised a $14M Series A round led by Munich Re Ventures. Toyota Ventures also participated in the round, along with existing investors PSL Ventures, NFX, and MaC VC.

Servicing for cheap

Starfish has a grand vision of a future economy in Earth orbit where satellites can be fully serviced and refueled as needed, and for cheap. The first step to reaching that future is to dock with a satellite in orbit—a goal that has previously taken hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve.

Starfish had previously raised ~$8M from VCs and won a handful of NASA and DoD contracts, collectively fully funding its first on-orbit demonstration. Cofounder Trevor Bennett told Payload in November that to keep its services cheap, the company’s servicer will need to utilize autonomous, software-driven technology and off-the-shelf components.

The first demonstration: The startup’s first mission, Otter Pup, is scheduled to launch this summer. The spacecraft, a lite version of the planned Otter craft, will deploy from Launcher’s Orbiter, maneuver to a safe distance away, then return for a series of docking maneuvers.

• If successful, the mission would mark the first docking between two commercial satellites in orbit.

• “Most recently, the satellite passed thermal testing, and is headed into vibration testing,” Ari Juster, Starfish strategy and operations lead, told Payload via email.

What’s next?

Starfish is currently developing its Otter vehicle, which will use the lessons learned from Otter Pup to perform more sophisticated servicing operations in orbit.

“The funds raised in this round will be used to accelerate the development of the first commercial Otter vehicles,” Juster said. “We anticipate raising further capital in the future to support ongoing manufacturing and launch of commercial Otter vehicles.”

The company currently employs 26 full-time employees, and is planning to expand headcount significantly in the coming months with this funding round.

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ispace to IPO

Japanese lunar lander startup ispace announced plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 12.

• The IPO will include 24.7M shares, with an additional 1.2M available in a secondary overallotment.

• The shares will reportedly be set at ¥244 ($1.78) a pop, valuing the business at ¥19B ($138M).

IPO → lunar landing

• ispace’s mid-April listing date comes just weeks before the company’s historic moon landing attempt. Late last year, ispace launched its HAKUTO-R lunar lander aboard a Falcon 9.

• The spacecraft is scheduled to touch down in late April, with the company electing to take the longer gravity-assisted route.

• If ispace can nail a soft landing, it would mark the first time a privately funded enterprise has ever landed on the Moon.

Eyes on the prize

ispace could be a central player in a cislunar economy that’s expected to generate $100B over the next 10 years, according to NSR.

The Japanese company has already secured key awards, including two NASA contracts to collect lunar regolith. Leveraging capital from its IPO and a potential first-mover advantage, ispace could continue to bulk out its order book and capitalize on the new lunar frontier.

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In Other News

• Relativity scrubbed yesterday’s attempt. The next launch attempt window for Good Luck, Have Fun is Saturday from 1pm to 4pm ET.

• NASA says Orion lost more heat shield material than expected during the Artemis I reentry.

• Boeing ($BA) hopes to offer commercial SLS launch services under NSSL Phase 3, AviationWeek reports. NSSL Phase 3 = the military’s next big bulk buy of launches.

• Vigoride-6 has arrived at Vandenberg, Momentus ($MNTS) said yesterday, ahead of its launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-7 mission next month.

• JAXA appears to be taking heat for putting ALOS-3, a $280M next-generation imaging satellite, on the new and unproven H3 rocket (H/T @Cosmic_Penguin).

• Ken Money—a member of Canada’s first astronaut class, a prolific scientist, and an Olympic high jumper—passed away Monday at the age of 88.

Live from SXSW...

Yesterday, we invited you to the SkyFi Summit next week at SXSW in Austin, Texas. What we didn't mention is there will be a live Pathfinder podcast episode.

Join us on March 14 at 11am Central for the in-person podcast. Hosted by Ryan Duffy, the episode will feature Luke Fischer from SkyFi, Caitlin Kontgis of Satellogic, and Umbra’s Gabe Dominocielo. We’ll dive deep into the latest trends and challenges facing the Earth observation industry.

Register now for the SkyFi Summit!

The View from Space (of Space)