Orbit Fab is an American startup based in

Lafayette, Colorado The City of Lafayette () is a home rule municipality located in southeastern Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 24,453 at the 2010 United States Census. Geography Lafayette is located in southeastern Boulder Coun ...

, United States, that develops in-space refueling systems for

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

History

Orbit Fab was founded by CEO Daniel Faber and CDO Jeremy Schiel in 2018 to extend the lifetime of satellites. In 2019, the company completed testing of a fuel-transfer system aboard the International Space Station, demonstrating the ability to transfer fuel between spacecraft in microgravity. In the experiment, water was first transferred between two small satellites, and later the water was inserted into the water supply of the space station, making Orbit Fab the first private company to supply water to the ISS with its own proprietary equipment and processes. On June 24, 2021, Orbit Fab launched Tanker-001, a test device for its depot satellites. Tanker-001 weighs and was used to test the refueling system. The company plans to launch its refueling service to

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

in 2025. On May 26, 2023, the company announced that it had selected an Impulse Space Mira spacecraft as a fuel depot to perform an on-orbit refueling demonstration test for the U.S. military in 2025. The demonstration will attempt to refuel the USSF Tetra-5 spacecraft with approximately of hydrazine propellant using Orbit Fab's RAFTI refueling port.

Products

Refueling service

Orbit Fab is developing in-space refueling systems to increase the lifespans of satellites that are in need of additional fuel. The company currently has a contract to refuel satellite-servicing satellites for

Astroscale Astroscale Holdings Inc. is a private orbital debris removal company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company is developing satellite end-of-life and active debris removal services to mitigate the growing and hazardous buildup of debris in ...

in geostationary orbit with of

xenon Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

fuel in addition to a total of US$21 million in defense contracts, including a SpaceWERX contract for a proximity and rendezvous demonstration, a US$13.3 million contract with the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

for in-space refueling of geostationary United States Space Force satellites, and a STRATFI mission for the development of docking ports. The company is working to provide fuel-replenishment through a docking system using their self-developed port system called RAFTI, eliminating the need for robotic arms to grapple spacecraft. The company is planning to send depot spacecraft into different orbits, and satellites will either refuel themselves at the depot or to use "fuel shuttle" spacecraft provided by Orbit Fab. Fuel will be provided starting in 2025 in geostationary orbit for US$20 million per

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly toxic unless handled in solution as, for example, hydrazine ...

, although the company has also announced plans to provide other fuels, including xenon,

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

, and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, and expand its services to other orbits in the future. The company also announced plans to partner with Astroscale and

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

to refuel satellites that do not yet have RAFTI ports.

RAFTI

The Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) was developed by Orbit Fab as a standard refueling port for spacecraft. Orbit Fab has released its specifications openly on its website. The RAFTI has a size of 45 x 75 x 75 mm, a weight of , and operates under either or .

UMPIRE

Orbit Fab developed a mission analysis software called UMPIRE (Universal Mission Planner for Investigating Refueling Effectiveness) that allows users to plan their mission and spacecraft using the refueling systems provided by Orbit Fab.

Funding

Orbit Fab raised US$3 million in 2019, and it raised US$28.5 million in a Series A funding round in April 2023.

References

{{reflist Aerospace companies of the United States Companies based in Boulder County, Colorado American companies established in 2018 2018 establishments in Colorado

External links

Specification for the RAFTI connector