Otter Pup Technology Demonstrator

Otter Pup is Starfish Space’s CubeSat technology demonstrator designed to validate the autonomous rendezvous and docking (AR&D) software and sensor suite that will be used on the full-size Otter servicing spacecraft. Rather than developing and testing all technologies only on an expensive full-size spacecraft, Starfish takes an iterative approach: prove the core autonomy in a smaller, cheaper platform first.

The Otter Pup CubeSat carries Starfish’s Cephalopod autonomy software, miniaturized rendezvous sensors (cameras, lidar, RF ranging), and a simplified capture mechanism. The satellite is designed to approach other objects in LEO, demonstrate controlled proximity operations (station-keeping, circumnavigation, final approach), and simulate the docking maneuver. On-orbit data from Otter Pup feeds directly into the Cephalopod algorithm refinement cycle for the full Otter mission.

Starfish Space was selected under NASA’s Tipping Point program and DARPA’s Orbital Prime program specifically because of the combination of Otter Pup’s risk reduction approach and Otter’s long-term commercial servicing vision. The company has a partnership with United Launch Alliance (ULA) for launch and is working with US Space Force on satellite servicing requirements.