{"title":"Astroscale vs Starfish Space: Servicing & tugs compared","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/compare/astroscale-vs-starfish-space","comparison":"Astroscale ranks 7 on the Space 100 with a score of 86; Starfish Space ranks 58 with 72. Astroscale is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, technology and positioning. Level on progress, firepower and leverage. Astroscale is based in Tokyo, Japan, Starfish Space in United States. Astroscale: Public, founded 2013. Starfish Space: Early. Astroscale is named in 36 signals and Starfish Space in 17.","companies":[{"name":"Astroscale","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/astroscale","city":"Tokyo","country":"Japan","stage":"Public","founded":2013,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Astroscale is a Japanese on-orbit-servicing leader (TSE:186A) whose ADRAS-J completed the world-first commercial mission to approach and image large debris at close range, with ELSA-M and ADRAS-J2 (capture and removal) following, on FY26 project income of JPY 11.5B ($71.1M, +89%) and a narrowing operating loss. It is converting to defense demand: a second Japanese MoD gripping-mechanism contract (JPY 999M, January 2026), a JAXA GEO-refueling selection, a UK military tracking-cubesat milestone, and a US Space Force refueling demo in the pipeline. Analysts see profitability around 2029.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Space","list":"Space 100","rank":7,"score":86,"tier":"member","scores":{"leverage":8,"position":10,"progress":10,"firepower":8,"commercial":6,"deployment":8,"production":6,"technology":10},"why":"Astroscale develops and operates missions to inspect, capture, remove and deorbit orbital debris, including ADRAS-J2's planned removal of a large H-IIA rocket upper stage.","segment":"Servicing & tugs","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft"},"signals_total":36,"facts_total":129},{"name":"Starfish Space","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/starfish-space","city":null,"country":"United States","stage":"Early","founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Starfish Space is a US satellite-servicing company (ex-Blue Origin founders) with three demonstration missions flown (Otter Pup 1 and 2 RPO, and Remora with Impulse, a December 2025 autonomous approach to ~1,250m with no human in the loop), and its first operational Otters launching in 2026 for SES, NASA, and the US Space Force. It holds the servicing category's contract stack: a $52.5M SDA award (January 2026, the first-ever contracted end-of-life disposal for a LEO constellation), a $54.5M USSF GEO vehicle, and an Intelsat life-extension contract, though it has not yet performed a commercial docking. It raised a $110M Series B (April 2026, Point72-led, >$150M total).","assessed_in":{"domain":"Space","list":"Space 100","rank":58,"score":72,"tier":"member","scores":{"leverage":8,"position":8,"progress":10,"firepower":8,"commercial":4,"deployment":5,"production":4,"technology":8},"why":"Starfish Space builds autonomous spacecraft tugs for in-orbit docking, satellite servicing and life extension, flown on U.S. Space Force missions.","segment":"Servicing & tugs","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft"},"signals_total":17,"facts_total":11}],"note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}