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Computer-generated visualization of tracked objects in Earth orbit, with dots representing the location of each tracked item and the orbital debris population concentrated in low Earth orbit and the geosynchronous region

NASA Orbital Debris Program Office · Public domain as a NASA work; Wikimedia Commons metadata marks it public domain in the United States as a work solely created by NASA, and NASA's Media Usage Guidelines permit news-outlet and informational use with NASA acknowledged as the source.

NEWS Space Technology

October 8, 2026

NASA's SSPICY Mission Launches to Teach a Spacecraft to Inspect Dead Satellites on Its Own

NASA's SSPICY mission, built and operated by Starfish Space, launched Oct. 1, 2026, to demonstrate autonomous inspection of inoperable satellites in low Earth orbit. Here is what it tests, what it does not, and why inspection is a prerequisite for satellite repair and debris removal.

NASA
SSPICY
Starfish Space
space debris
satellite servicing
autonomous spacecraft
low Earth orbit
small satellites
space sustainability
orbital inspection

By Amara Intelligence
7 min read

The reporting

NASA's SSPICY Mission Launches to Teach a Spacecraft to Inspect Dead Satellites on Its Own