Orbit Fab, a company that wants to build a network of in-orbit refueling stations, has closed a $28.5 million Series A to launch more fuel delivery missions and infrastructure.
A Colorado-based startup has developed a refueling connector called the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) that can be integrated into satellites and orbital service vehicles. Orbit Fab wants to launch fuel tankers (which the company sometimes likens to gas stations) into orbit that can dock with any RAFTI-equipped spacecraft.
Without a way to refuel satellites in space, the lifespan of any spacecraft is limited by the amount of fuel it has at launch. This can make the satellite heavier and more expensive, and each maneuver expensive. Orbit Fab says refueling could enable more extensive satellite servicing missions, rendezvous and proximity operations, in-space assembly and other spacecraft maneuvers that could require longer lifetimes while lowering the overall cost of operating a satellite.
Last August, Orbit Fab said it would deliver up to 100 kilograms of hydrazine to satellites in GEO starting in 2025 for $20 million.
The company already has four launches booked over the next three years, including three missions for the US Department of Defense. One of those missions, scheduled for launch in 2025, will integrate the Orbit Fab RAFTI port into military satellites so they can be refueled in hydrazine tankers in orbit. Overall, Orbit Fab has awarded more than $21 million in DOD contracts.
Orbit Fab is also starting to lock in commercial customers: the company has signed an agreement with Astroscale to supplement its geostationary orbit (GEO) orbital service vehicles.
In addition to the Series A, which Orbit Fab said was progress, the company announced that it has doubled its team to sixty people in the past year and plans to hire at least 25 more this year.
He led 8090 Industries to the upside with additional investments from Stride Capital, Industrious Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Tribe Capital, Good Growth Capital and Massive Capital Partners.
rootdevices.com/2023/04/17/orbit-fab-closes-28-5m-series-a-for-on-orbit-refueling-capabilities/