Recipients › Washington › Starfish Space Inc.
Recipient organisation · UEI QM7PN38M94U7
Starfish Space Inc.
USAspending caveat. Figures are obligations reported by federal agencies to USAspending.gov, not payments. In USAspending's words: "An outlay occurs when federal money is actually paid out, not just promised to be paid ('obligated')." "Every agency has a Senior Accountable Official who must officially certify that the quarterly financial data submitted by their agency is accurate and complete." "If there are any discrepancies in procurement data, FPDS is the authoritative source." Contract data for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is published with a 90-day delay. Data loaded 30 Sep 2026. View the USAspending recipient profile.
USAspending records $108M in award obligations to Starfish Space Inc. (Tukwila, WA) over the fiscal years it is listed for (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
In FY2026, the most recent complete fiscal year, obligations were $61M, of which $61M (100%) came through contracts.
That is up 100% on FY2025 ($30M).
Starfish Space Inc. ranks 94 of 622 listed organisations located in WA by five-year obligations, and 5,204 of 30,000 nationally.
Its $1.0M-plus awards since FY2023 came from Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration: 9 awards worth $106M in total award value.
Its largest contract industry is NAICS 541715 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)), where it ranks 185 of 1,463 organisations by the value of $1.0M-plus awards.
Obligations by fiscal year contracts vs assistance
| Fiscal year | All obligations | Contracts | Assistance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | $9,599,700 | $9,599,700 | $0 | — |
| FY2024 | $7,810,642 | $7,810,642 | $0 | -19% |
| FY2025 | $30,274,982 | $30,274,982 | $0 | +288% |
| FY2026 | $60,597,941 | $60,597,941 | $0 | +100% |
| FY2027 to date | under $1.0M | — | — | — |
A fiscal year runs 1 October to 30 September. "Contracts" are procurement award types A–D; "assistance" is everything else (grants, direct payments, loan subsidy cost, insurance, other). The contracts column is listed only where contract obligations alone reached $1.0M; the assistance figure is the remainder and may therefore include up to $1.0M of contracts.
Compared with its state and the largest recipients five listed years
| Measure | This organisation | Largest in WA | Largest nationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five-year obligations (listed years) | $108M | $73B | $416B |
| FY2026 obligations | $61M | $23B | $118B |
| Contracts, five years | $108M | under $1.0M | $94B |
| Assistance, five years | $0 | $73B | $416B |
| Rank by five-year obligations | 5,204 of 30,000 | 1 of 622 in WA | 1 |
Largest in state: Department of Social & Health Services. Largest nationally: Health Care Services, California Department of. Rankings count organisations located in the state, by the sum of their listed fiscal years.
Awarding agencies $1.0M+ awards since FY2023
| # | Agency | Awards | Award value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Defense | 7 | $89M | 85% |
| 2 | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 2 | $16M | 15% |
Contract industries NAICS
Rank within NAICS 541715: 185 of 1,463 organisations by $1.0M+ award value; see Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology).
Places of performance $1.0M+ awards
Counties: King County, WA $72M · Brevard County, FL $33M · Travis County, TX $1.2M
Largest awards begun since FY2023
| Awarding agency | Type | Industry or program | Award value | Begun | Place | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractDefinitive Contract | 481212 Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation | $49M | 30 Jan 2026 | WA | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractDefinitive Contract | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $33M | 17 May 2024 | FL | USAspending |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | ContractDefinitive Contract | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $15M | 16 Aug 2024 | WA | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractPurchase Order | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $1.7M | 16 Feb 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractPurchase Order | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $1.7M | 16 Feb 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractPurchase Order | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $1.7M | 16 Feb 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractPurchase Order | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $1.7M | 29 Dec 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Air Force | ContractPurchase Order | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $1.5M | 17 Jul 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | ContractDefinitive Contract | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $1.2M | 23 Jun 2023 | TX | USAspending |
Award value is the amount obligated to the award to date as USAspending reports it. Descriptions below are USAspending's text, unedited and truncated; those that appear to name a person are withheld.
- $49M, Department of Defense, 30 Jan 2026: STARFISH SPACE, INC. OTTER SBIR PHASE III WITH THE APFIT PROGRAM
- $33M, Department of Defense, 17 May 2024: STRATEGIC FUNDS INCREASE (STRATFI) PROJECT FOR SPACE MOBILITY AND LOGISTICS (SML) TECH USING STARFISH SPACE OTTER SPACECRAFT TO IMPROVE MANEUVERABILITY ON-ORBIT
- $15M, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 16 Aug 2024: FY24 SBIR PHASE III - SSPICY - STARFISH SPACE ORBITAL DEBRIS INSPECTION MISSION
- $1.7M, Department of Defense, 16 Feb 2023: DEVELOPING CALCULATOR FOR USING EXTERNAL TOOLS, ANALYZING, AND COMBINING FOR ESTIMATING ACCURATE NAVIGATION COMPUTER VISION-BASED RELATIVE NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR
- $1.7M, Department of Defense, 16 Feb 2023: INTEGRATION OF CEPHALOPOD FLIGHT SOFTWARE ONTO ASTRANIS MICROGEO SPACECRAFT TO ENABLE NOVEL PROXIMITY OPERATIONS FOR SERVICING AND SPACE DOMAIN AWARENESS
- $1.7M, Department of Defense, 16 Feb 2023: DEVELOPMENT OF OTTER AUTONOMOUS SATELLITE SERVICING VEHICLE AND DESIGN FOR UMBRA SATELLITE DISPOSAL MISSION
- $1.7M, Department of Defense, 29 Dec 2023: SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR MANTA, AN ARTICULATING THRUSTER BOOM ENABLING RESPONSIVE SERVICING BY THE OTTER SPACE VEHICLE
- $1.5M, Department of Defense, 17 Jul 2023: NAUTILUS CAPTURE MECHANISM CONFIGURATION: A STUDY TO COMPARE TOLERANCES OF ELECTROSTATIC AND GECKO-LIKE ADHESION OF SPACECRAFT DOCKING SYSTEM FOR LONG DURATION
Questions and answers
How much federal money does Starfish Space Inc. receive?
$108M in award obligations over the fiscal years it is listed for (FY2023: $9.6M; FY2024: $7.8M; FY2025: $30M; FY2026: $61M). Years not listed were under the $1.0M floor. Obligations are binding commitments, not payments made.
Which agencies award to Starfish Space Inc.?
By the value of $1.0M-plus awards begun since FY2023: Department of Defense ($89M) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration ($16M).
What is the money for?
Contracts are classified under NAICS 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) and NAICS 481212 Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation.
Where is the work performed?
Primary places of performance for its larger awards: WA ($72M), FL ($33M) and TX ($1.2M).
Is Starfish Space Inc. a large federal recipient?
It ranks 5,204 of 30,000 organisations on this site by five-year obligations and 94 of 622 located in WA. The site covers organisations with at least $1.0M in a fiscal year; individuals are excluded.
Where does this data come from?
USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), award transactions as loaded on 30 Sep 2026; fiscal-year totals via the spending-by-category endpoint and award lists via the award search endpoint. The USAspending recipient profile is the authoritative record.
Provenance
Source: USAspending.gov API v2 (U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service), CC0. Fiscal-year obligations from the spending-by-category recipient ranking by recipient state (listing floor $1.0M per year); awards from the award search endpoint (new awards of $1.0M or more by base obligation date); parent and business categories from the recipient profile where fetched. Closed fiscal years are snapshots taken after year end; FY2027 is refreshed on each build. Data loaded by USAspending on 30 Sep 2026. Individuals and sole proprietors are excluded at ingest. Errors in processing are corrected at the next build; see corrections and the methodology.