Starfish Space has secured a $52.5 million contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency to dispose of military satellites at the end of their operational lives.

The Tukwila, Wash.-based startup says it’s the first commercial deal ever struck to provide “deorbit-as-a-service,” or DaaS, for a satellite constellation in low Earth orbit. In this case, the constellation is the Pentagon’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, which provides global communications access and encrypted connectivity for military missions.

The contract calls for Starfish Space to launch the satellite disposal service in 2027.

“This is not research and development. This is an actual service, in a structure that allows that service to scale for this constellation, for an entire industry,” Starfish Space co-founder Trevor Bennett told GeekWire. He said the arrangement validates the Space Development Agency’s approach to building and maintaining its constellation, and also validates “the path that we can take with the industry at large.”

Starfish is developing a spacecraft called Otter that would be able to capture other satellites, maneuver them into different orbits, release them and then move on. In a deorbiting scenario, Otter would send the target satellite into a trajectory for atmospheric re-entry that wouldn’t pose a risk to other orbital assets. Starfish’s system doesn’t require the target satellite to be pre-outfitted with specialized hardware — which is a significant selling point.

The system provides an alternative to what typically happens to satellites toward the end of their lives. Today, most satellite operators either have to execute a deorbiting maneuver while they’re sure that the propulsion system still works, or risk having their spacecraft turn into unmanageable space junk.

Bennett compared Otter to a tow truck that can be brought in to carry away an old vehicle when it really needs to be scrapped.

“With the tow truck kind of capability, we can provide that service as needed, but we are not trying to replace normal operation,” he said. “We are augmenting it and extending it so the satellites that are being flown in that constellation can go fly longer. … Once it’s done operating and it’s time to dispose, we can provide that transit to the right disposable altitude.”

Starfish’s deal with the Space Development Agency builds on a previously awarded mission study contract that supported work on the concept in 2024 and 2025. The $52.5 million won’t be paid out all at once. An initial payment will cover costs leading up to the first deorbiting operation, and from then on, the agency will pay Starfish for services rendered. Bennett declined to provide further financial details, citing confidentiality.

Otter’s capabilities aren’t limited to deorbiting satellites. The oven-sized spacecraft could also be used to change a satellite’s orbital path, or bring it in for servicing. “With Otter, we’ve dramatically reduced the cost and complexity of satellite servicing across orbits,” Austin Link, Starfish Space’s other co-founder, said in a news release. “This contract reflects both the value of affordable servicing missions and the technical readiness of the Otter.”

Starfish conducted a partial test of its first Otter prototype, known as Otter Pup, in 2024. A second prototype, Otter Pup 2, launched in mid-2025 and is currently undergoing tests that could include a satellite docking attempt. “That vehicle remains healthy and operational, and is actually progressing through some additional mission milestones,” Bennett said.

Three other projects are in the works:

• Starfish is due to send an Otter spacecraft to hook up with a retired SES satellite in geostationary Earth orbit, or GEO, and maneuver it into a graveyard orbit. The Otter would then dock with a different SES satellite and use its onboard propulsion system to keep that satellite in an operational orbit for additional years of life. (The deal was originally struck with Intelsat, but that company was acquired by SES last year.)
• The Space Force’s Space Systems Command awarded Starfish Space a $37.5 million contract that calls for a different Otter spacecraft to dock with and maneuver national security assets in GEO.
• Yet another Otter is due to conduct up-close inspections of defunct satellites in low Earth orbit under the terms of a three-year, $15 million contract awarded by NASA in 2024.

“Those Otters are all under construction and in testing,” Bennett said. “Actually, we’ll see a couple of those launched this year. And so this is an exciting time, where Otters are about to go to space and start operating as commercial vehicles.”

The United States Department of War announced 340 additional awards under the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract on January 15, expanding a massive procurement program that now totals more than 2,400 awards since early December. The latest awards support a contract vehicle with a ceiling of $151 billion. According […]

The nation’s newest military service still has a lot of work to do to chart its future. The Space Force had been planning to use a new “Futures Command” to handle that work, and it was supposed to be up and running by last year. That didn’t happen as scheduled, but the idea’s not dead either.

Leaders say they’re still planning a new organization to help shape the service’s future, but they also needed to make sure it aligns with the new administration’s priorities.

The Space Force first unveiled its plans for a new Futures Command almost two years ago. The idea at the time was to combine the existing Space Warfighting Analysis Center and the Concepts and Technologies Center with a new Wargaming Center. Those plans were put on pause late in 2024 when it became apparent new political leadership was on the way.

But Gen. Chance Saltzman, the chief of space operations, said Air Force Secretary Troy Meink is on board with the overall idea.

“Secretary Meink 100% understands what we were trying to accomplish with Futures Command and the importance of it,” he said during the annual Spacepower conference in Orlando, Florida, last month. “How are we looking at the future? How are we categorizing and characterizing the threats we’re going to face, the missions we’re going to be asked to do, and how are we going to respond so that we can put the force in place to meet those challenges? We will look at concepts, we will do the war gaming, we will do the simulations, we will do all the manpower assessment, we will do the military construction surveys to figure out what facilities are needed, and then document that so that everybody can see what we’re progressing towards. It is this idea of establishing a command that’s focused on what is it we’re going to need in the future and making sure all the planning is done, synchronized with the resources so we get that right.”

And while the Space Force certainly isn’t the first military service in recent years to contemplate a new command as part of big organizational changes, it is the first time in modern history that a service is having to do that from scratch.

“In December of 2019, the law said, ‘There is a Space Force,’ and nothing could have been further from the truth,” Saltzman said. “It legally made there be a Space Force, but it was still in work. It was a thought process, it was pulling things together as rapidly as possible. So I think the hardest thing is overcoming this mentality that there’s been a Space Force for decades, that we’ve got all this figured out. These are hard things to do on a government scale with government oversight and government resources. And so convincing people that we had to start from scratch on almost every process we had, on every decision we make, that was unprecedented. Convincing people that we don’t really have anything to fall back on. If I don’t deliver a service dress [uniform], then we’re using an Air Force service dress — there wasn’t something else. We had plenty of uniform changes when we were growing up, but there was always an Air Force uniform before those changes that we were in until we transitioned. Not the case for the Space Force. We had to start from scratch. We’re not just enhancing the Space Force, we’re actually creating one. And that’s been a real challenge.”

New leadership education initiatives

The Space Force traces most of its roots to the Air Force, and until now, it’s leaned heavily on its sister service within the Department of the Air Force for combat support and other functions. But it’s increasingly working to build infrastructure, doctrine and culture of its own.

As one example, Saltzman said just last month, the Space Force launched its own Captains Leadership Course. That initiative is a partnership with Texas A&M University and led by the Space Force’s Space Training and Readiness Command.

“The bottom line is each service brings something unique in terms of what it focuses on for professional military education. I remember General [Jay] Raymond, when he stood up the service, talked about some of the things that services have to do. You have to have your own budget, you have to have your own doctrine, you have to develop your own people. And that’s kind of stuck with me,” he said. “We have to develop our Guardians for the specifics of the Space Force. And this basic understanding at the captain’s level is going to be foundational to what follows in the rest of their career. And so while we need to find ways to give them experience with other services, I wanted to make sure that the service had a core offering at that grade to educate our officers on the Space Force. Now we’re going to include joint doctrine, will include communications and leadership. But they need that foundational understanding of the service first before they start to branch out and figure out how they integrate with the other services.”

First Space Force OTS graduates

And in 2025, the service graduated its first group of newly-minted officers from officer training school. Those first 80 officers, Saltzman said, represent a mentality within the service that seeks to build “multidisciplinary” leaders. The enlisted force, he says, will be tactical experts, while officers will need expertise in “joint integration.”

“Do we need deep expertise? Absolutely. Do we need people that broadly understand how to integrate with a joint force? Absolutely. How do you do both? This is the tough part of the job, you have to get that balance just right,” he said. “If you go down to kind of the micro management side of this and ask how you develop a single Guardian to best perform, then you get caught in that conundrum. I have to think about what I need the entire service to be able to do. Do I need deep experts? Yes. Do I need broad integrators? Yes. So we have to find a way to, across the entire service, create opportunities to maximize what people can do, what they do best, and fill the jobs that are required based on those skills and those competencies. You have to make sure you think about it from an enterprise perspective, and what might apply to any one Guardian doesn’t necessarily have to apply to all Guardians.”

The post Despite delay, Space Force still plans futures command to guide force design first appeared on Federal News Network.

© Staff Sgt. Kayla White/U.S. Air Force via AP

Northrop Grumman has demonstrated a secure testing environment for radiation-exposed microelectronics under DARPA’s ASSERT program, the company announced on January 13, 2026. According to Northrop Grumman, the achievement is part of DARPA’s Advanced Sources for Single-event Effects Radiation Testing (ASSERT) effort, which aims to create compact laboratory alternatives to heavy-ion test facilities. The company said […]

The United States Missile Defense Agency has awarded Iridium Communications a contract on January 15, 2026, for work under the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, program. The company said the award carries a ceiling of $151 billion and covers a wide set of work areas intended to field new capabilities for U.S. […]

Sweden has signed a contract to acquire sovereign Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites from ICEYE, establishing a national space-based intelligence capability, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration announced on January 12 in Stockholm. According to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), the multi-million, multi-year agreement was formalized by Brigadier General Carl-Fredrik Edström, Director of the Air and […]

But wait, there’s more! Don’t miss a few great video greetings:

The Expedition 74 crew aboard the International Space Station sends warm wishes for happy holidays and a stellar New Year from orbit, where they’re celebrating a year of science, teamwork, and discoveries that connect us all. (Video courtesy NASA)

 

The 39th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric M. Smith, and the 20th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Carlos A. Ruiz, provide a message to the force on holidays at the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Communication Directorate/Headquarters Marine Corps)

 

Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman and Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna send holiday wishes across the Guardian force and beyond: “Thank you to every Guardian and family member for your commitment to our mission, especially those standing watch over the holidays. We hope you each find time to relax, recharge, and enjoy this special time with loved ones. Semper Supra.”

 

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A post shared by Mammoth Cave National Park (@mammothcavenps)

Mammoth Cave National Park delivered a truly unique, musical seasons greeting:

“From Ranger Jake and all of us here at Mammoth Cave National Park, happy holidays to you and yours!” the park posted on Instagram.

 

The post A look at 2025 holiday celebrations across federal agencies first appeared on Federal News Network.

© Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz/Lance Cpl. Afton Smiley