Inspection cubesat demo planned as first step toward orbital defense mothership

TAMPA, Fla. — Bulgarian satellite maker EnduroSat and British defense tech startup Shield Space aim to deploy a cubesat next year capable of maneuvering near other satellites for inspection, ahead of plans to develop a mothership that could house dozens of them for on-demand missions.

The companies announced a partnership April 8 that they say will initially enable defense customers to move from contract signature to in-orbit operations in as little as nine months, compared with several years for traditional programs, by bundling software, spacecraft and services.

The partnership combines EnduroSat’s standardized satellite platform architecture with Shield Space’s autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) software, which was originally developed for drones used in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Cheap autonomous drones have changed the tempo of warfare in Ukraine,” said Shield Space cofounder and CEO Graeme Ritchie, a former defense technology specialist for the U.K.’s Royal Air Force who has also founded a consultancy focused on drone operations.

“Space will experience the same acceleration, where machines must sense, decide and maneuver faster than human command chains allow,” Ritchie continued. “Our partnership brings together the spacecraft, autonomy and mission architecture needed to make that possible.”

Broadsword demonstration

The first mission under the partnership is slated for the second quarter of 2027 and is dubbed Broadsword, involving an 8U autonomous “chaser” cubesat that would conduct RPO operations with a smaller 3U target satellite launched alongside it.

Broadsword aims to demonstrate the ability to approach, track and maneuver near another object in space without real-time human control.

It would mark Shield Space’s first mission in orbit, while EnduroSat has deployed more than 80 satellites to date and is ramping up production capacity following a recent funding round.

Attribution and deterrence

Dan Molland, Shield Space cofounder and chief technology officer, said the EnduroSat partnership will initially target use cases centered on improving visibility and accountability in orbit.

“The main use cases revolve around attribution and deterrence,” Molland told SpaceNews.

“We’re focusing on the ability to track activity in orbit, understand what’s happening, and identify who’s responsible. That forms the basis for more stable and secure space operations; actors are less likely to take risks if their actions can be seen and attributed to them.”

The companies are also exploring defensive applications aimed at protecting satellites and broader space infrastructure.

“The goal is to give operators the confidence that they can maintain control of their assets in an increasingly contested environment,” Molland said via email.

“Side by side with this, the team is exploring more advanced capabilities that extend beyond monitoring and awareness, including non-kinetic approaches to influencing or constraining threats.” 

Boarding the mothership

Broadsword is intended as a stepping stone toward a broader architecture centered on a mothership capable of deploying multiple maneuverable spacecraft, ranging from 8U to 16U, each equipped with Shield Space’s guidance software for individual RPO missions.

The Project Nexus mothership is being developed in two sizes: a 200-kilogram-class platform called Frame-15 and a larger 500-kilogram-class Frame-24.

“The plan is to demonstrate the mothership capability in 2028 with the smaller Frame-15 platform,” Molland said, “leading up to a full-scale demonstration by 2029 using a Frame-24 hosting a dozen cubesats.”

The concept is intended to provide a more responsive alternative to rapid-launch capabilities, where Europe lags behind the United States, by pre-positioning spacecraft in orbit for deployment as needed.

A single mothership could also support multiple missions simultaneously, enabling faster and more flexible responses to emerging threats.