What is the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)?

Otter, built by Starfish Space, is recorded as a deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station) on the DEPLOY registry. Starfish Space operates the deployment directly.

Who operates Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)?

Starfish Space, the manufacturer of Otter, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.

When did the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station) go live?

The deployment is recorded as starting June 12, 2023 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.

Is the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station) still active?

As of the most recent verification on the DEPLOY registry, this deployment is no longer operating at this location.

Have there been incidents at the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)?

No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

Deployment

Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)

Name: Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)
Start: 2023-06-12T12:00:00.000Z
Location: Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)

Small autonomous satellite-servicing vehicle (space tug) using electrostatic/Nautilus capture and CETACEAN autonomous-navigation software.

Otter by Starfish Space · Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verified

Track Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)

Recent coverage

Swatch’s New Gold MoonSwatch Solves the Problem of the Nightmare Royal Pop LaunchWired · 2026-07-16
Maritimo appoints BlueSalt Marine as exclusive dealer for GreeceMarine Business News · 2026-07-14
David Potter, the man who put Psion in the palm of your hand, logs off at 82The Register · 2026-07-03

See all coverage →

Machine-readable surfaces

Markdown mirror: /deployments/otter-pup-demo-leo.md
JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
REST API: /v1/robots/37c3ae79-b31e-42d8-be41-26ad2ac4dd71
Data documentation: /data
Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP

Footage

PRIMARY SOURCE

Courtesy of Starfish Space

Starfish Space's overview of its Otter Pup orbital-servicing demonstration, a small satellite servicer with electric propulsion and autonomous rendezvous and docking. Demo-stage: Otter Pup 1 suffered an early tumbling anomaly that was recovered, and full commercial docking has not yet been demonstrated.

The Otter Pup demonstration mission in low Earth Orbit involved an orbital rendezvous between Starfish Space's Otter and D-Orbit, which was completed to close out the mission.

Key facts

Outcome: Otter Pup demonstrator: Pup 1 (2023) tumbled after separation, recovered, reached ~1 km rendezvous + imaged a D-Orbit ION (Apr 2024) but achieved NO docking; Pup 2 (2025) ran in-orbit tests, docking partner withdrew. No commercial docking achieved to date (demonstrated)

Safety record

No incidents on record for Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station).

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

Trust tier: Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated: 2026-06-28
Model: Otter
Company: Starfish Space
Location: Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)
Status: ended
First seen: 2023-06-12
ID: 37c3ae79-b31e-42d8-be41-26ad2ac4dd71

Timeline

Jun 2023
First recorded
Otter first documented operating at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station).
Jun 2023
created
Jun 2026
Current status: ended, reviewed
Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

Otter operates in Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station). Explore the full verified map:

The global deployment map →

Sources (2)

Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-06-28

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-06-28

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: pilot

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: space

Sources by quality tier

1: secondary-industry-publication; Industry publication
1: unclassified; Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Common questions

What is the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)?: Otter, built by Starfish Space, is recorded as a deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station) on the DEPLOY registry. Starfish Space operates the deployment directly.
Who operates Otter at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)?: Starfish Space, the manufacturer of Otter, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
When did the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station) go live?: The deployment is recorded as starting June 12, 2023 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
Is the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station) still active?: As of the most recent verification on the DEPLOY registry, this deployment is no longer operating at this location.
Have there been incidents at the Otter deployment at Low Earth Orbit (Tiangong Space Station)?: No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

Deploy Watch

Track this deployment.

We notify you when status changes against primary-source evidence, contract events surface, or a related incident is filed.