Orbital Risk Intelligence and Remediation

Clearing the Path to Our Future Among the Stars

We map what no one can track — then we remove it.

An estimated 1.2 million debris fragments between 1 and 10 centimeters orbit Earth — each one mission-ending at orbital speed, and not one of them individually tracked by any catalog on Earth. Icarus Orbital Systems™, currently in the validation and pre-seed stage, is developing the sensing and collection technology to find, characterize, and ultimately remove the small debris that today's catalogs can't see and today's missions can't touch.

Explore Our Mission Request Technical Briefing

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OUR MISSION

Orbital Stewardship for the Space Age

Mission — Now

Close the small-debris blind spot. We are developing onboard detection and collection systems for the 1–10 centimeter debris population in low Earth orbit — the most numerous lethal objects in space, and the only class no current mission can address. A 1 cm fragment at a 10 km/s crossing speed carries roughly the energy of 15 grams of TNT detonating. Our first products are data: ground-truth measurement of a population the world can currently only model.

Vision — Later

We transform space debris from hazard to resource — enabling sustainable expansion beyond Earth. As removal scales to larger objects, recovered material becomes feedstock for in-space manufacturing: aerospace-grade metal that has already paid the most expensive ticket in the industry — launch to orbit.

Philosophy

Stewardship over destruction. Infrastructure over one-off missions. Recovery over waste.

~1.2M

Estimated debris fragments 1–10 cm in low Earth orbit — none individually tracked today

ESA Space Environment Report 2025, statistical model

~40,000

Objects large enough to be tracked and catalogued — the only debris current missions can address

ESA, 2025

7.8 km/s

Typical orbital velocity in LEO; collision speeds can exceed 10 km/s

From Hazard to Resource

Defunct satellites and spent launch components contain high-value aerospace materials that have already incurred the most prohibitive cost in the space industry: launch to orbit. By recovering and reprocessing these materials, we transform what is currently a hazard into an economically valuable resource stream.

Recoverable mass lives in large derelict objects — recovery and recycling are later phases of our roadmap, gated on demonstrated collection.

Aluminum Alloys

Titanium

Nickel

Precious Metals

TECHNOLOGY

The Dragonfly Architecture

Find it. Match it. Catch it. Keep it.

No system on Earth can track a 5-centimeter fragment in orbit. Catalogs end near 10 centimeters; below that, operators fly blind through a population estimated at over a million objects. Chasing individual fragments nobody can see is not a mission — so we designed around the problem.

Onboard Detection & Characterization

Dragonfly's first job is to see what ground-based sensors cannot. Each vehicle is designed to carry a detection suite that finds, tracks, and characterizes small debris in its operating zone — turning a statistical hazard model into real, actionable data. Detection is both our enabling technology and our first product.

Capture and Retain — Never Entangle

Here is the physics we will never pretend away: nothing can catch debris crossing its path at orbital speed, and no capture system — ours included — operates in that regime. Dragonfly is designed to operate only at low relative velocities, where collection is controlled and gentle rather than ballistic. Our proprietary capture-and-containment approach is engineered to collect small fragments intact and keep them — because the worst outcome in debris removal is making more debris. Architecture details are available to qualified parties under NDA.

Supervised Autonomy

Dragonfly operates under human supervision, with onboard autonomy for detection, navigation, and collection sequencing. We are not building machines to replace humans. We are building machines to extend human capability.

Safety Architecture

Every element is designed so that failure modes never create new debris. The goal is not speed. The goal is stability.

Built to Recognized Standards

Icarus designs its concept of operations to align with the CONFERS Guiding Principles and Recommended Design and Operational Practices for rendezvous and proximity operations — passive-safety design, responsible operations, and transparency — and with the international space-sustainability standards developed by IADC, UN COPUOS, and ISO. Operating safely in shared orbits is a discipline, and we intend to practice it from day one.

Where we are, honestly: the Dragonfly architecture is in early concept development (TRL 1–2). Nothing described above has been built or flown. Our current work is feasibility analysis, detection-payload definition, and ground demonstration planning — the engineering homework that has to precede any flight claim. Our current enclosed capture-and-containment approach replaced our earlier net-based concept as a result of our own due-diligence analysis, and we will keep changing our design whenever the evidence tells us to. We publish our progress as we make it.

ROADMAP

A Phased Strategy: Each Phase Funds and De-Risks the Next

Hard go/no-go gates stand between every phase. We do not advance on hope; we advance on demonstrated results.

01 Current focus

Orbital Intelligence

Sense, map, and characterize the sub-10 cm debris population with in-situ detection
Produce ground-truth data on objects the world can currently only model statistically
Data products are our first revenue

02 Gated on demonstrated sensing

Orbital Risk Mitigation

Dragonfly collection craft remove small debris where Phase 1 data proves it concentrates
Small fragments captured intact and retained — never entangled, never fragmented further

03 Gated on demonstrated collection

Material Recovery & Recycling

Extend proven capture-and-retain operations to large derelict objects — where recoverable mass actually lives — with consent from their owners
Process recovered material into feedstock for in-space manufacturing
An Orbital Processing Center is the capstone asset of this phase

04 Long horizon

Cislunar Operations

Carry the sensing and collection infrastructure beyond Earth orbit
Debris awareness is an emerging need where the same fleet heritage applies

NEWS & MILESTONES

Progress, Published As We Make It

June 2026

Icarus at ISDC 2026

Our team attended the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference in McLean, Virginia, connecting with the orbital-sustainability community — fellow founders, investors, government and private-sector professionals, attorneys, and the people helping shape space law.

June 2026

Architecture update: the Dragonfly capture-and-containment design

Following our own due-diligence analysis, we retired our early net-based capture concept in favor of an enclosed capture-and-containment architecture — capture and retain, never entangle. Changing the design when the evidence says to is how we intend to operate.

February 2026

Business plan submitted to the NSS Rothblatt competition

Icarus Orbital Systems entered the National Space Society's Rothblatt Space Settlement Business Plan Competition with our full business plan for orbital debris remediation and resource recovery.

LEADERSHIP

Management Team

Multidisciplinary expertise spanning systems thinking, security, operations, and aerospace engineering.

Sandra Bird Aldridge

Interim CEO & VP of Strategy and Operations

Over two decades of experience in federal and private-sector inspection, audit, and compliance roles. Expertise in operational governance, strategic planning, and multi-stakeholder program management.

Jedidiah Bird

VP of Technology & Security

Over a decade of experience in security architecture, systems reliability, and operational integrity across government and private-sector environments.

Brian Dobben

VP of Robotics & Engineering

Welding Engineer at A. O. Smith Corporation with extensive experience in robotic welding automation and advanced manufacturing. Former Senior Welding Engineer at Chrysler. Expertise in Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and complex process optimization across automotive and industrial sectors.

Jeff Hodge

Technical Advisor (Aerospace Systems & Propulsion)

15+ years as aerospace engineer at NASA Langley Research Center. Managed hypersonic wind tunnel facilities and served as Facility Safety Head. Provides technical review and risk assessment for propulsion and aerodynamic concepts.