Who Owns the Satellite Last Mile
SpaceX
This is really a fight over who owns the last mile of satellite operations after launch. SpaceX already controls the rocket, the satellite factory, and the network, so if it also builds deorbit, repositioning, and life extension into Starlink operations, third party servicers get shut out of the biggest constellation customer in space. If outside specialists win even a slice of that workflow, constellation economics start to look more like an ecosystem than a closed stack.
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The practical jobs here are simple but valuable, move a satellite to a new orbit, add propulsion margin, inspect it, or pull it down at end of life. Northrop has already proven operators will pay for on orbit life extension through its Mission Extension Vehicle, while Astroscale is building debris capture and removal around the same operational need, keeping crowded orbits usable.
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Impulse shows what a specialist layer looks like in practice. Its Mira and Helios vehicles are built to pick up payloads after launch and move them where they need to go, including from LEO to GEO in under a day, and the company already flies with SpaceX. That is the template for a services market that sits on top of launch rather than inside it.
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SpaceX has strong reasons to internalize this for Starlink. It already uses Falcon heavily for internal deployment, runs the world’s largest operating constellation, and manages orbital debris compliance for Starlink satellites directly. Once a fleet is big enough, building in house servicing can be cheaper than paying margin to a third party on every repositioning or retirement event.
The next phase is a split market. Open orbit transfer and servicing specialists should grow first around customers that do not have SpaceX scale, while SpaceX pushes deeper into self managed constellation operations for Starlink. If specialist vehicles prove cheaper and reliable across many operators, they can become the standard logistics layer for everyone else in orbit.