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DARPA Otter Program Awards Redwire $20M to Test-Fly a Scaled SabreSat in Very Low Earth Orbit
DARPA awarded Redwire $20 million under the Otter programme to test and fly a scaled SabreSat spacecraft on a precursor mission in very low Earth orbit. The flight will gather data on spacecraft performance in a regime where residual atmospheric drag is difficult to reproduce in ground tests, reducing risk ahead of the full Otter demonstration. Otter is intended to demonstrate electric propulsion that uses residual atmosphere as propellant, and the new award follows a $44 million Phase 2 contract for the full mission, bringing the two awards to $64 million.