UK Pioneers Space Refuelling with £2m for Orbit Fab’s Innovative Technologies
Harwell, England – July 22, 2024
- Global leader in on-orbit refuelling, Orbit Fab, lands £2m for UK expansion
- Orbit Fab also announces the expansion of its UK team
- Funding development includes a groundbreaking world-first project to use environmentally friendly propellants for satellite-to-satellite refuelling
The UK Space Agency has awarded Orbit Fab a £1.3 million Major Project grant under their National Space Innovation Programme.
This grant will fund the design of a high-pressure variant of the RAFTI™ (Rapidly Attachable Fuel Transfer Interface) refuelling port, set to be available in 2025.
This new variant will enable refuelling with pressurised fuels such as Xenon, promoting more sustainable space operations – reducing the need for single-use satellites.
Alongside the UK Space Agency funding announcement, Orbit Fab has secured additional contracts – including £165,000 with the European Space Agency (ESA) via City University London, and a £500,000 contract as the prime for the phase 1 design of a mission to refuel a future UK Active Debris Removal spacecraft.
The “UKRefuel” mission, in collaboration with industry partners ClearSpace and Astroscale aims to launch a satellite refuelling service to Low Earth Orbit by 2027. These initiatives, following Orbit Fab’s signing of the ESA Zero Debris Charter, underscore the company’s dedication to sustainable space practice and responsible refuelling.
Daniel Faber, CEO and Co-Founder of Orbit Fab comments: “Expanding our UK office and embarking on these new projects is a significant milestone for Orbit Fab.
With the support of the UK Space Agency and our partners, we are enhancing the UK’s space capabilities and setting new standards for sustainable space operations.
The projects led by our UK team will enable us to refuel more satellites and customers than ever before. Our UK and US offices are working together to pave the way for a future where orbital refuelling is standard practice, driving a bustling in-space economy ensuring a more sustainable space environment.”
Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency said: “The National Space Innovation Programme will help kickstart growth, create high-quality jobs, protect our planet and preserve the space environment for future generations.
“New projects, like this one led by Orbit Fab, go to the heart of what we want to achieve as a national space agency that supports cutting-edge innovation, spreads opportunity across the UK and delivers the benefits of space back to citizens on Earth.”
Additionally, the UK Space Agency is announcing two other projects today as part of their National Space Innovation Programme which Orbit Fab are part of. Orbit Fab are collaborating with Magdrive on a replaceable solid-fuel cartridge for Magdrive’s propulsion system and with Lunasa on sensors for safe rendezvous and proximity operations in orbit.
Following a year of extraordinary growth, Orbit Fab has tripled the size of its UK workforce to 15 and will be opening a new office in Harwell, Oxfordshire. This expansion will continue to support the development and operation of orbital refuelling services, essential for national security, telecommunications, earth observation, and scientific missions in space.
About Orbit Fab
- Orbit Fab is the leading provider of on-orbit refuelling services and propellants that make extended in-space missions and the space economy possible, where the biggest advantage is new opportunities for dynamic space operations.
- Over the past decade, rockets have become reusable. Orbit Fab has made satellites reusable.
- The company, based in Lafayette, Colorado, with offices in the UK, has developed the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTITM) fuelling port, which is being integrated aboard a growing number of government and commercial spacecraft to enable extended missions in GEO and LEO orbits.
- Orbit Fab has signed the first government and commercial fuel delivery agreements in GEO. Following its highly successful $28.5 million Series A funding round, Orbit Fab is currently expanding technical and manufacturing capabilities to ramp up production to meet intensifying demand for its on-orbit refuelling ports, shuttles, and depots, which can deliver and dispense chemical, electric, and green propellants in space.
- Investors include 8090 Industries, Stride Capital, Industrious Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Northrop Grumman, Tribe Capital, Good Growth Capital, Massive Capital Partners, Techstars Ventures, and Bolt.
- For more information: orbitfab.com
