The agreement is envisioned to establish a commercial framework that delivers a staged, lab-to-space pathway for the development and deployment of small satellite payloads. Orbit2Orbit plans to build the world’s first reusable, modular and refuellable station-to-station logistics network in orbit.
Under the agreement, Orbit2Orbit will operate as the small payload integration layer across both stratospheric and spaceflight platforms. This creates a structured, repeatable progression that allows customers to move hardware from laboratory testing through stratospheric validation into suborbital, very low-Earth orbit and onward orbital missions using a single, cross-compatible payload hosting system.
This approach is delivered through Orbit2Orbit’s Pathfinder program, which is designed to reduce technical risk, cost and time to flight by allowing payloads to be developed once and matured incrementally.
Initial stratospheric missions provide real-world system integration and operational validation under space-like thermal and pressure conditions. Payloads can then progress through increasingly representative flight environments without redesign or reintegration at each stage.
Rather than treating each flight as a bespoke effort, Pathfinder establishes standardised interfaces, repeatable integration processes and increasing flight cadence. This enables customers to iterate, re-fly, and qualify systems more efficiently, while maintaining continuity across platforms and missions.
The technologies, interfaces and operational concepts developed through Pathfinder are not stand-alone demonstrations.
They form the early building blocks of Orbit2Orbit’s longer-term vision for the creation of an in-space logistics network capable of supporting routine movement, servicing and delivery of payloads between platforms in orbit.
With initial Pathfinder capacity for 2026 already allocated, Orbit2Orbit is now focused on building flight cadence into 2027 and beyond and is actively engaging with commercial, academic, government and defence organisations seeking structured, lower-risk access to stratospheric and spaceflight opportunities.
The program also supports defence and national security applications, providing test and evaluation platforms for environmental verification, system qualification and sovereign technology validation under representative operating conditions, without the cost and risk of direct-to-orbit deployment.
While anchored in Australia’s rapidly growing space ecosystem, the Pathfinder program is designed to support international partners, reinforcing Australia’s role as a leader in affordable, repeatable access to space and the development of future orbital infrastructure.
Orbit2Orbit expects the Pathfinder program to transition into a fully recurring commercial service from 2027, supporting global customers while advancing the foundations of a sustainable in-space logistics capability.