The American company Katalyst Space Technologies announced the acquisition of the startup Atomos Space, specializing in orbital vehicles and service missions in space. Both companies work in the field of maintenance of satellites in orbit — direction, which is rapidly gaining relevance both in commercial, as well as in the defense sector.
The agreement was concluded in March 2024 year, however, its value is not disclosed. Atomos has developed the Quark reusable orbital tug, designed to transport the payload to the given orbital positions.
The joint team of the two companies plans to develop space vehicles, capable of rapprochement, docking and performing such tasks, as an extension of the service life of satellites, modernization of equipment and improvement of situational awareness in outer space. This applies to both commercial, and military missions.
In March, Atomos conducted the first demonstration mission with a lightweight variant of the Quark-LITE tug and Gluon target vehicle. Orbital transfer technologies were tested during the mission, docking and refueling in space. Despite the problems, including rotation of the device and communication failures, the mission provided valuable data, which are now used to create a new platform — already for work in geostationary orbit (GEO), which is key for communications and surveillance satellites.
The combined company will offer full-fledged "turnkey missions", which will include a space platform, convergence and docking technologies and equipment modernization packages, everything is developed in-house.
The demand for such services is growing, since the owners of the satellites are state-owned, as well as private ones - they seek to extend the service life of old devices and reduce the amount of space debris. At the same time, the economic feasibility of such missions remains a critical decision-making factor.
Katalyst's latest development is a new docking architecture, which does not require special equipment on satellites, such as robotic arms or sensors. This allows servicing "unprepared" satellites, that is, those, that were not originally designed to be refueled or upgraded.
A demonstration mission in geostationary orbit is planned for the end 2026 year. Within its framework, it will be developed as a commercial service, as well as potential missions in the interests of the US Department of Defense.
Source: https://spacenews.com/katalyst-space-acquires-atomos-to-accelerate-in-space-services/