ORBES

Cover Block

PUBLIC

Name	ORBES (Orbital Exploration Systems)
Tagline	Builds autonomous space robots starting with ORB drone for inspection and filming in space stations. [Techstars Job Board]
Headquarters	San Jose, CA, USA [Techstars Job Board]
Founded	2024 [PitchBook]
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	Hardware + Software
Industry	Deeptech
Technology	Robotics
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Solo Founder

Links

PUBLIC

• Website: https://orbes.space/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbesspace

Executive Summary

PUBLIC ORBES is a pre-seed startup developing autonomous robotics for the commercial space station market, a bet on the operational needs of a new generation of orbital infrastructure. Founded in 2024 by Anna Shaposhnik, the company's initial product is ORB, a patent-pending free-flying drone designed for interior inspection, monitoring, and cinematic filming [Techstars Job Board]. The wedge is cost reduction, with the company claiming its technology could save operators over $100 million annually per station by automating tasks currently performed by astronauts [ORBES website]. Shaposhnik's background includes marketing and design roles at space infrastructure company Orbit Fab and the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab, providing domain exposure but not a deep engineering pedigree in robotics [ContactOut, Personal Portfolio]. The company's participation in Techstars Global provides a structured accelerator framework, but capitalization is not publicly disclosed and no named customers or deployments have been verified. Over the next 12-18 months, the key milestones for diligence will be securing a first paid pilot with a station operator, demonstrating a functional prototype in a relevant microgravity environment, and closing an institutional seed round to fund hardware development.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core company description corroborated by Techstars and Crunchbase; founder background and product claims are single-sourced or company-only.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Classification
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	Hardware + Software
Industry / Vertical	Deeptech
Technology Type	Robotics
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Solo Founder

Company Overview

PUBLIC

ORBES, a legal entity operating as Orbital Exploration Systems, was incorporated in 2024 and is headquartered in San Jose, California [PitchBook]. The company's founding narrative centers on a specific wedge into the space economy: developing autonomous robots for the interior of orbital habitats, beginning with a free-flying inspection drone [Techstars Job Board]. This focus on internal station operations, rather than external planetary exploration or satellite servicing, defines its initial market entry.

Key operational milestones are sparse but point to an early-stage development path. The company's participation in the Techstars Global accelerator program represents a significant, publicly verifiable step, providing structured mentorship and network access typical for pre-seed ventures [Techstars Job Board]. Public materials, including the company website, describe the ORB drone as "patent-pending," indicating intellectual property activity is underway [ORBES website]. Beyond these points, no public customer deployments, major partnership announcements, or detailed technical demonstration dates have been recorded.

The founding team is led by solo founder Anna Shaposhnik, who serves as CEO [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief]. Her professional background includes a prior role in brand and marketing at in-space refueling startup Orbit Fab and graphic design work for a university rocketry lab, a profile that suggests commercial space exposure and design sensibility but does not yet show public experience in robotics hardware engineering or flight program management [ContactOut & Personal Portfolio].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core company facts (founding year, HQ, accelerator participation) are corroborated by multiple databases. Founder attribution and product status are from single sources or the company itself.

Product and Technology

MIXED

ORBES's product strategy begins with a single, focused hardware platform. The company's first offering is ORB, described as a patent-pending, free-flying drone designed for operation inside space stations [ORBES website]. The product is positioned as a multi-purpose inspection and monitoring tool, with the company stating it can be configured for visual and thermal imaging, as well as air quality anomaly detection [Techstars Job Board]. The core value proposition is continuous, automated oversight, enabling what the company calls 24/7 filming and live monitoring to replace manual astronaut labor [ORBES website].

The technical architecture is not detailed in public materials, but the product's intended environment dictates several inferred requirements. Successful operation in microgravity necessitates propulsion and navigation systems fundamentally different from terrestrial drones. The mention of thermal and air quality sensors points to an integrated sensor suite, while the cinematic filming capability suggests a focus on high-quality, stabilized optics. The company's long-term vision, as stated on its website, scales from this internal monitoring wedge toward extravehicular activity (EVA) robotic assistants for autonomous construction and maintenance in space, though this remains a stated ambition without public technical milestones [ORBES website].

A primary challenge for any space hardware startup is validation. ORBES addresses this by emphasizing terrestrial training, claiming to train space robots on Earth for a fraction of the cost [ORBES website]. This implies a significant software simulation layer to develop and test autonomy algorithms before any costly space deployment. The economic claim is substantial: the company asserts ORB can save over $100 million per station annually, a figure that appears aimed at the operational budgets of future commercial station operators [ORBES website].

Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Product details are sourced from the company's own website and a Techstars listing; technical capabilities and economic claims are unverified by independent sources.

Market Research and Opportunity

PUBLIC

The market for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) is moving from government-led demonstration to commercial necessity as private space stations prepare to replace the International Space Station.

Demand for internal inspection and monitoring is a near-term wedge. The planned decommissioning of the ISS around 2030 creates a multi-station future, with commercial modules from Axiom Space, Voyager Space's Starlab, and Blue Origin's Orbital Reef under development. Each station will require routine internal inspection for safety, maintenance, and operational documentation. The current method relies on astronaut time, a constrained and expensive resource. NASA has quantified astronaut time costs at roughly $130,000 per hour when accounting for life support and transportation [NASA Office of Inspector General, 2021]. ORBES's claim of saving "$100M+ per station annually" targets this substitution, though the figure is a company projection [ORBES website].

Longer-term tailwinds are structural. The broader ISAM market, which includes external robotics for construction and repair, is projected to grow significantly. A 2023 report by Northern Sky Research forecast the global market for in-space servicing and logistics to reach $4.3 billion by 2032, up from $586 million in 2022 [NSR, 2023]. While this encompasses satellite servicing and refueling, it signals investor and customer appetite for robotic solutions that reduce risk and extend asset life. Government agencies are direct catalysts: NASA's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program and the Space Force's focus on orbital logistics provide potential funding and anchor customer pathways.

Key adjacent markets include terrestrial industrial drones and external space robotics. The technology stack for navigation and anomaly detection in confined, GPS-denied environments has parallels in offshore energy and nuclear facility inspection. However, the regulatory and environmental hurdles for space are distinct. The primary substitute is continued reliance on human astronauts or simpler, fixed sensors. The macro force is the overall growth of the commercial space economy, which Morgan Stanley estimates could surpass $1 trillion by 2040, up from approximately $350 billion in 2020 [Morgan Stanley Research, 2020].

Metric	Value
ISS Astronaut Hourly Cost	0.13 $M
ISAM Market 2022	0.586 $B
ISAM Market 2032 (Projected)	4.3 $B
Global Space Economy 2040 (Projected)	1000 $B

The chart illustrates the cost pressure driving automation (astronaut time) and the projected expansion of the enabling markets. The ISAM growth curve is steep, but the 2040 space economy figure is an analogous, broad-sector projection, not a direct addressable market for inspection drones.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing from third-party analyst reports (NSR, Morgan Stanley); cost driver cited from NASA OIG. Company-specific savings claim is unverified.

Competitive Landscape

MIXED

ORBES enters a nascent but intensifying market for commercial space robotics, where its initial product focus on intra-station inspection places it against specialized startups and adjacent offerings from established aerospace contractors.

Company	Positioning	Stage / Funding	Notable Differentiator	Source
ORBES	Free-flying drone for inspection & filming inside space stations	Pre-Seed / Techstars Global	Patent-pending ORB drone; emphasizes cinematic filming and anomaly detection for commercial stations	[ORBES website] [Techstars]
GITAI	General-purpose robotic arms & telepresence systems for on-orbit servicing	Venture Series B ($80M+ total raised)	Focus on labor automation for space infrastructure; has demonstrated robotic arm on the ISS	[PitchBook]
Astrobotic	Lunar logistics, payload delivery, and surface mobility	Late-stage venture / Public contracts	Established track record with NASA CLPS contracts; core business is payload delivery, not intra-station robotics	[Crunchbase]

The competitive map for intra-station operations is currently sparse. Incumbent aerospace primes like Northrop Grumman or Airbus focus on large-scale, bespoke systems for government clients, not the smaller, software-driven inspection drones ORBES proposes. The primary challengers are other venture-backed startups like GITAI, which is pursuing a broader, more capital-intensive vision of general-purpose space robotics. GITAI's focus on robotic arms for external assembly and maintenance represents a parallel, potentially complementary track. A more direct, though unconfirmed, substitute could be internal inspection systems developed in-house by commercial station operators like Axiom Space or Voyager Space, which may choose to build rather than buy.

ORBES's defensible edge today appears to be its specific product definition,a free-flyer optimized for filming and visual monitoring. This is a narrower wedge than general robotics, potentially allowing for faster iteration and lower initial cost. The company's participation in Techstars Global provides a network and credibility signal. However, this edge is perishable. It is predicated on first-mover advantage in a niche that lacks entrenched competition, not on proprietary technology barriers or exclusive customer contracts. The patent-pending status of the ORB drone is a claim, not a confirmed, defensible moat.

The company is most exposed to competition from better-funded players moving down-market. GITAI, with its significant capital raise and ISS demonstration, could extend its robotic telepresence platform to include internal inspection modules. Furthermore, ORBES's long-term vision of EVA (extravehicular activity) robots for construction places it on a collision course with the core roadmaps of companies like GITAI and established defense contractors, where it currently lacks the capital and flight heritage to compete. Its go-to-market reliance on commercial station operators, a small and concentrated customer set, also creates channel vulnerability if a competitor secures an exclusive partnership.

The most plausible 18-month scenario hinges on the pace of commercial station development. If stations like Axiom's modules or Orbital Reef accelerate and seek cost-effective inspection tools, ORBES could win as a focused, early vendor. The winner in that case is the startup that first secures a paid pilot with a named station operator. Conversely, if station timelines slip or major operators decide to develop capabilities in-house, the niche fails to materialize. The loser is any pure-play startup in this micro-segment without the capital reserves to pivot or wait out the delay. GITAI, with its broader applicability and larger war chest, is better positioned to weather such a slowdown.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor profiles are based on public database entries (Crunchbase, PitchBook). Direct competitive analysis for the specific intra-station drone segment is inferred due to limited public deal flow.

Opportunity

PUBLIC If ORBES successfully executes its vision of autonomous space robots, the prize is a foundational role in the operational backbone of a commercial space economy projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars within the decade.

The headline opportunity for ORBES is to become the default provider of robotic inspection and maintenance services for the first generation of private space stations. The company's initial wedge is a free-flying drone, ORB, designed for internal station tasks like inspection and filming [Techstars Job Board]. This positions the company to capture recurring service revenue from station operators, a market segment that is moving from concept to construction. The cited evidence makes this outcome reachable, rather than purely aspirational, because the company has already defined a specific, patent-pending product and aligned with a major accelerator, Techstars Global, which provides a network and validation within the aerospace ecosystem [Techstars Job Board, PitchBook]. The long-term roadmap to EVA (extravehicular activity) robotic assistants for external construction and maintenance suggests an ambition to own a critical, high-value layer of station operations [ORBES website].

Growth from a single product to a service platform could follow several concrete paths. The scenarios below outline plausible, citation-supported routes to scale.

Scenario	What happens	Catalyst	Why it's plausible
Station Operator Anchor	ORB becomes the standard inspection drone on one or more commercial stations, leading to fleet-wide adoption and service contracts.	A design win or partnership with a major station developer like Axiom Space or Voyager Space's Starlab.	The company's product claim directly targets station operators for cost savings, and the broader market is actively developing [ORBES website]. Competitor GITAI has demonstrated similar technology aboard the International Space Station, validating the demand [GITAI].
Government Agency Adoption	NASA or a similar agency contracts ORBES for technology demonstration or operational use aboard the International Space Station or Lunar Gateway.	Selection for a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant or a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission.	The company's focus on safety and inspection aligns with agency priorities for autonomous systems. Early-stage space robotics firms frequently use government programs for funding and flight heritage.
Vertical Expansion to External Robotics	Success with the internal ORB drone funds development of the planned EVA robotic assistants, opening the much larger market for external station assembly and satellite servicing.	Securing a venture round specifically earmarked for hardware development and in-space demonstration.	The company's public roadmap explicitly cites scaling toward EVA assistants [ORBES website]. The external robotics market is less crowded than internal drones and commands higher contract values for complex tasks.

Compounding for ORBES would manifest as a data and operational experience moat. Each hour of flight time inside a station generates unique sensor data on microgravity dynamics, system wear patterns, and anomaly signatures. This proprietary dataset would improve the autonomy and diagnostic capabilities of the robots, creating a performance gap competitors cannot easily replicate. Furthermore, early design integration with a station's internal architecture could create significant switching costs, locking in a service provider for the lifecycle of the asset. While there is no public evidence this flywheel is yet spinning, the unit economics premise,replacing costly astronaut hours with autonomous robots,is the fundamental engine of value creation the company cites [ORBES website].

The size of the win, should the Station Operator Anchor scenario play out, can be framed by a credible comparable. Astrobotic, a competitor in the broader space robotics and logistics sector, was valued at approximately $1.6 billion during its SPAC merger announcement in 2025 [Reuters, 2025]. As a provider of foundational robotic services to multiple stations, ORBES could command a similar or greater valuation by capturing a recurring revenue stream from critical infrastructure. This suggests a potential outcome in the low-to-mid single-digit billions of dollars (scenario, not a forecast), contingent on securing anchor customers and demonstrating reliable, scaled operations.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- The company's product claims and roadmap are sourced from its own website and a Techstars job board, with limited independent verification. The growth scenario plausibility relies on analogous market movements and competitor activities rather than direct evidence of ORBES's progress.

Sources

PUBLIC

1. [Techstars Job Board] ORBES | Techstars Job Board , https://jobs.techstars.com/companies/orbes-2

2. [PitchBook] ORBES 2026 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | PitchBook , https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/1131590-53

3. [ORBES website] ORBES , https://orbes.space/

4. [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief] ORBES: Space Robotics Startup , https://www.perplexity.ai/

5. [ContactOut & Personal Portfolio] Anna Shaposhnik Email & Phone Number | CEO @ORBES | Filming gone weightless | ex-Orbit Fab | USC RPL , https://contactout.com/anna-shaposhnik-58996

6. [Crunchbase] ORBES - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding , https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/orbes-5064

7. [NASA Office of Inspector General, 2021] NASA Office of Inspector General Report , https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-21-025.pdf

8. [NSR, 2023] Northern Sky Research ISAM Market Report , https://www.nsr.com/research/in-space-servicing-assembly-and-manufacturing-market/

9. [Morgan Stanley Research, 2020] Morgan Stanley Space Economy Report , https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/investing-in-space

10. [GITAI] GITAI Company Information , https://gitai.tech/

11. [Reuters, 2025] Astrobotic SPAC Merger Valuation , https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/astrobotic-go-public-via-spac-2025-02-20/