Over 46,000 space debris fragments more than 4 inches wide now clutter Earth's orbit. (Image credit: ESA)
A pair of companies are teaming up to provide customers with pioneering insurance for spacecraft specifically to cover space debris collision events.
Space insurance underwriters typically offer premiums that are mission-wide and include possible satellite replacement and can therefore be very expensive. California on-orbit services startup Arkisys is now teaming up with London-based Odin Space to offer its customers specific collision insurance, based on verified debris impact data from Odin Space's sensors.
Arkisys's upcoming Cutter mission will carry sensors from Odin Space, which is developing advanced space debris detection. Odin Space's Nano Sensors are designed to act as a "black box" for spacecraft, being able to pinpoint the exact moment of an impact to a spacecraft and its location. Forensic on-orbit data collected by the sensors can then be used to verify that a damaged spacecraft experienced an on-orbit impact event consistent with debris or micrometeoroid strikes.
Cutter is designed to host payloads or provide "last mile" transportation after launch, such as delivery to Arkisys Port modules in orbit. The new move aims to provide assurance to customers in an evolving and innovative space ecosystem amid the growing threat of space debris, without being prohibitively expensive.
"By enabling insurance for the Arkisys Port Architecture flight elements (Cutter and Port Modules) in orbit, this partnership offers customers not just a new on-orbit commercial logistics domain but a proven method to safeguard their business investments and operations," David Barnhart, CEO and co-founder of Arkisys, said in a statement.
"We see this partnership as one of the key enablers for the new in-space circular economy to enable thousands of new customers to develop new commercial innovations in space," he added. "We are proud to host Odin's unique new technology that enables this next step in space commercialization."
Odin Space is working to predict and monitor dangerous sub-centimeter orbital debris, which can't be tracked from the ground. Even such tiny pieces can do serious damage: Space debris travels at orbital speeds of roughly 4.5 to 5 miles per second (7 to 8 kilometers per second), with relative collision velocities of up to 9.3 miles per second (15 km per second), meaning any impact with a spacecraft will be highly energetic and potentially mission-ending. Earlier this month. the company secured seed funding of $3 million from investors, boosting its plans to track and map debris threats with its Nano Sensors and Scout Satellites.
"Our partnership with Arkisys marks a pivotal shift in how the industry tackles the rising threat of lethal, non-trackable debris," James New, CEO and Co-founder of Odin Space, said in the same statement. "Equipping Arkisys spacecraft with Odin's Nano Sensors is the first move in a new era of safer, smarter, more sustainable space activity."