Product/Service - Fuel Shuttle
- Classification
- In-Space Transportation
- Category
- Propellant Refilling
Propellant Refuel Station
- Fields
- Refilling Station
- Status
- Development, Launched
- First launch
- 2018
Gas Stations in Space
First operational fuel depot to orbit, Tanker 001 Tenzing, which will provide fuel for the fast growing in-orbit servicing industry, is expected to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 no earlier than in June 2021.
Our refueling service architecture consists of depots in various orbits, and shuttles that will deliver fuel from those depots to client spacecraft.
Client spacecraft, such as Astroscale's LEXI™, are equipped with our RAFTI service valve.
WE’VE RACKED UP A NUMBER OF WORLD-FIRSTS
- First-ever commercially available in-space fueling port (branded RAFTI™)
- First-ever propellant depot operating in Low Earth Orbit, Tanker-001 Tenzing. 6 months from concept to hardware handover.
- First private company to resupply the International Space Station with water. Accomplished within a year of founding, and meeting NASA’s strict guidelines for crew-rated systems.
- Astroscale's LEXI spacecraft, the world's first operational, commercial satellite designed to be refueled, will be equipped with the RAFTI interface.
- First company to have investments from both Lockheed Martin Ventures and Northrop Grumman.
Regolith Donation
News
- Selected by U.S. Air Force to develop an in-space xenon pumping system, which is a key technology for servicing satellites and spacecraft on orbit.
- Orbit Fab Announces $12 million AFWERX STRATFI Program.
- Orbit Fab said in October 2022 that 8090 Industries was a “new major investor” in the company, but did not disclose the size of the investment. The company had previously raised a total of $17 million, including more than $10 million in a September 2021 round that included Lockheed Martin Ventures and Northrop Grumman.
- Orbit Fab selects Impulse Space’s orbital vehicle for in-space refueling demo. Orbit Fab will seek to refuel the U.S. Space Force Tetra-5 spacecraft with up to 50 kilograms of hydrazine. The demonstration, planned for 2025, was funded by the Space Force and the Defense Innovation Unit (SpaceNews, 2023-05-25).
- Orbit Fab and Australia’s Space Machines Company cooperate on in-orbit servicing (SpaceNews, 2023-12-05).
- Orbit Fab and ispace to collaborate on lunar propellant harvesting and delivery (SpaceNews, 2023-12-11).
- SMC is the first non-U.S. customer to use Orbit Fab’s fiducial alignment markers. The markers are painted on SMC’s Optimus Orbital Servicing Vehicle, which is set to launch in early 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare flight.
- Orbit Fab’s fiducial markers are designed to act like a QR code, ensuring, for example, that a fuel shuttle replenishes the correct client. The fiducial markers also ensure proper spacecraft alignment for docking.
- Orbit Fab has three launches set for 2025 to deliver fuel for U.S. government customers. In one of the demonstration missions, Orbit Fab plans to supply the U.S. Space Force Tetra-5 spacecraft with hydrazine.
- Orbit Fab and ClearSpace to develop in-space refueling service, SpaceNews, 2024-01-24.
- Satellites could become more sustainable, thanks to new UK Space Agency funding, 2024-02-09
- Contracts have been awarded to Astroscale, ClearSpace and Orbit Fab for refuelling research:
- Orbit Fab will leverage their unique Rapidly Attachable Fuel Transfer Interface (RAFTI™) and the Grappling and Resupply Active Solution for Propellants (GRASP) to develop the ‘RAFTEA’ mission, partnering with MDA, ClearSpace, D-Orbit, and BryceTech.
Orbit Fab has three launches set for 2025 to deliver fuel for U.S. government customers (SpaceNews, 2023-12-05).
Sources
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