Starfish Space

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Starfish Space, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

• What is Starfish Space?

  Starfish Space is a Seattle-based commercial orbital servicing startup developing the Otter platform for satellite docking and life extension. The first Otter mission has launched and demonstration outcomes are pending. Starfish operates in the orbital servicing sub-cohort alongside Northrop Grumman MEV (commercial success) and Astroscale (demonstration tier).

• How does DEPLOY apply verified-vs-claimed discipline to autonomous space missions?

  Space is the ultimate hype sector: dramatic claims, high stakes, and a public that wants to believe. DEPLOY's verified-vs-claimed discipline reads every mission outcome against primary-source telemetry, customer-of-record acceptance, and published mission records, not maker press releases, to produce an honest capability map. The framework distinguishes full success from tipped, failed from never-attempted, and demonstrated from pre-flight, treating precision as editorial substance.

Current leadership (2)

• Austin Link Co-founder and CEOsince 2019-01-01secondary-verified
• Trevor Bennett Co-founder and CTOsince 2019-01-01secondary-verified

Founders (2)

• Austin Linkcofounderfounded 2019-01-01
• Trevor Bennettcofounderfounded 2019-01-01

Safety record

No incidents on record for Starfish Space.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Peer companies

• Impulse Space6 models
• Astrobotic Technology3 models
• China National Space Administration3 models
• Astroscale2 models
• China Manned Space Agency2 models
• GITAI2 models

Financial state

Reporting basis

aggregator_estimate

Lifecycle stage

growth

Counterparty risk class

moderate

Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.

Funding rounds (2)

• Series A2023-03-01

  $14M(reported)

  Investors: Munich Re Ventures (lead), Toyota Ventures

• Seed2021-09-29

  $7M

  Investors: NFX (lead), MaC Venture Capital (lead)

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

• Verified media added✓VerifiedJun 6, 2026

  Starfish Space Otter Pup

• Record createdJun 5, 2026

  Added to the verified registry

• Deployment verified✓VerifiedJun 12, 2023

  Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)

Full change history →

Sources (1)

1. https://www.starfishspace.com/ ↗

Common questions

What is Starfish Space?

Starfish Space is a US satellite-servicing startup based in Tukwila, Washington, building the autonomous Otter servicing vehicle with CETACEAN autonomy software for on-orbit satellite inspection, maintenance, and life extension.

What does Starfish Space make?

Starfish Space has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: Otter (Starfish Space builds physical robots).

Who competes with Starfish Space?

On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Starfish Space building in the same form factors include Impulse Space, Astrobotic Technology, China National Space Administration, Astroscale.

Who is the CEO of Starfish Space?

Austin Link is the ceo of Starfish Space, per the DEPLOY registry.

Where is Starfish Space headquartered?

Starfish Space is headquartered in Tukwila, Washington, USA.