Orbit Fab Awarded $12 Million AFWERX Contract for Refueling DOD Satellites
LAFAYETTE, Colo. (Orbit Fab PR) — Orbit Fab has been awarded a $12 Million AFWERX Strategic Funding Increase and Tactical Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract to integrate its Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) service value on to DOD assets and provide refueling services.
Orbit Fab was founded in 2018 with the mission to build the in-space propellant supply chain. Orbit Fab has developed the RAFTI (Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface) service valve in partnership with the Space Force. RAFTI is a fueling port that enables spacecraft to be refueled on-orbit and can be used as a drop-in replacement for existing satellite fill-and-drain valves. RAFTI has been selected as the primary refueling interface for multiple DoD on-orbit refueling missions and this STRATFI will enable Orbit Fab to scale its operations to reliably serve government and commercial refueling demand.
“Orbit Fab is excited to expand our collaborative partnership with DoD and to support our Gas Stations in Space refueling services,” Jeremy Schiel, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of Orbit Fab, Inc.
About Orbit Fab Inc.
Orbit Fab believes a bustling in-space economy is a precondition to permanent jobs in space. By providing a ubiquitous supply of satellite propellant in LEO, GEO, and cis-lunar space (branded Gas Stations in Space), the company improves existing space business models (communications and Earth observation) and helps open new industries like space tourism, manufacturing, and mining. Orbit Fab has racked up a number of world-firsts: the first-ever commercially available in-space refueling port (RAFTI), the first-ever private company to resupply the International Space Station with water, and the first-ever satellite fuel depot. The future for satellites is no longer restricted to the fuel they are launched with. Orbit Fab delivers the fuel and other materials that are needed, where and when they are needed, to enable business models never before thought possible. The company recently announced its first commercial fuel sale to Astroscale, a private orbital debris removal company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
