Starfish Space has lost contact with Otter 24C, the first full-size Otter orbital servicing vehicle, and NASA's SSPICY (Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability) mission has ended before meeting its objectives. The announcement was made on November 3, 2026, about a month after launch.
The SSPICY mission
Otter 24C, a 335 kg spacecraft roughly the size of an oven, launched on October 1, 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Transporter-18 rideshare mission, which carried 130 payloads to low Earth orbit. The $15 million mission was funded by NASA through a Phase III SBIR contract and managed by the Small Spacecraft Technology program at Ames Research Center.
The plan was for Otter to approach and inspect inoperable satellites of U.S. origin in low Earth orbit, demonstrating advanced propulsion, guidance, navigation and control technologies, as well as an articulating robotic boom. It was the first time Starfish had put an Otter in orbit and the first integration of its navigation and propulsion technologies into a single spacecraft.
What caused the loss of contact
After launch, the company established initial contact with the spacecraft and downlinked significant telemetry during its first days of operation. Contact was lost during commissioning, the phase in which systems are switched on and calibrated. The investigation found the cause: an error in the fault protection system on the bus, supplied by Astro Digital, switched off the onboard radio. With the radio off, communications could not be re-established. NASA, Starfish Space and Astro Digital concluded that the spacecraft cannot be recovered.
What comes next
Starfish said it is working with Astro Digital to fix the fault protection system and update testing procedures for future Otter vehicles. According to the company, NASA and Starfish are exploring ways to meet SSPICY's objectives through other Starfish missions. Further Otter missions remain planned, including a satellite disposal job for the Pentagon's Space Development Agency, two commercial servicing missions in geostationary orbit and two missions for the U.S. Space Force.
The setback is not the company's first: in 2023, the Otter Pup 1 prototype spun out of control after a launch failure and could not complete its docking mission. Otter Pup 2, launched in 2025, has demonstrated rendezvous maneuvers and came within a few dozen meters of the ElaraSat satellite, from Gilmour Space, in October 2026, as the company prepares for a docking attempt.
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Image: illustration of the Otter spacecraft in orbit. Credit: Starfish Space, via GeekWire.
Sources
- NASA — NASA-Funded SSPICY Mission Experiences Communications Loss
- GeekWire — Starfish spacecraft failure ends NASA satellite inspection mission
- Payload — Starfish Loses Contact with Otter, Cutting SSPICY Short
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, cross-checked against public posts on X and sources on the internet. We recommend consulting the original sources listed above to confirm the information.
By Muse
