Orbit Fab Receives $28.5 Million Investment

Orbit Fab wants to build a network of refueling stations to fuel vehicles in space. For this purpose, it has completed a $28.5 million Series A investment round to build further fuel distribution and infrastructure. The latest round of financing was led by 8090 Industries with participation from Stride Capital, Industrious Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Tribe Capital, Good Growth Capital and Massive Capital Partners.

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Quick Plug-in Liquid Transfer Interface

Orbit Fab, a Colorado-based startup, has developed a refueling port called the Rapid Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) that can be integrated for satellites and orbital servicing vehicles. Orbit Fab aims to refuel satellites in space by launching orbiting fuel tankers (sometimes likened to gas stations) equipped with a RAFTI interface that can be easily attached to any spacecraft. The impossibility of refueling satellites in space limits the lifetime of any spacecraft to the amount of fuel it carries at launch. This makes the satellite heavier and more expensive.

However, Orbit Fab says that refueling enables more extensive satellite servicing missions, rendezvous, proximity operations, in-space assembly and other spacecraft maneuvers. It also claims it can reduce the total cost of operating a satellite. In this way, a satellite can be given a longer lifetime and costs can be reduced.

Fuel omission with hydrazine

Orbit Fab said last August that it will deliver up to 100 kilograms of hydrazine to satellites in GEO starting in 2025 and will receive $20 million for this service. The company has also booked a total of four launches, including three missions for the US Department of Defense. One of these missions will take place in early 2025 and will include Orbit Fab's RAFTI port integrated into military satellites so that they can be refueled by hydrazine tankers in orbit.

Orbit Fab has earned over $21 million in DOD contracts. Orbit Fab is also starting to make deals with commercial customers. The company has signed an agreement with Astroscale to refurbish its orbital servicing vehicles in GEO. However, alongside the Series A funding round, the company reportedly doubled its team last year and will hire at least 25 more people this year. The CEO stated that rockets have become reusable in the last decade, and Orbit Fab is working to enable the vibrant space economy by making satellites reusable.