US space technology startup Fortastra has raised US$30 million in Series A funding to develop manoeuvrable spacecraft designed to protect satellites and other critical infrastructure in orbit. The investment follows the launch of the company’s first Watchdog V0 spacecraft earlier this month. The funding round was led by First In, with participation from Upfront Ventures, Space Capital, Rsquared, Side Door Ventures, ATX Ventures and existing investors. The Fortastra spacecraft programme is intended to provide persistent security coverage across multiple orbits, initially serving US national security requirements. Fortastra spacecraft advance beyond Watchdog V0 Founded in 2025 and based in Torrance, California, Fortastra develops spacecraft capable of operating close to other satellites, monitoring their surroundings and responding to potential threats. Its approach combines propulsion, sensors, guidance, navigation and control (GNC), and onboard autonomy to support rendezvous and proximity operations. The company launched its first pair of Watchdog V0 spacecraft aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission on 1 October 2026. These initial spacecraft are intended to validate technologies needed for more capable orbital security platforms. Founder and CEO Mike Smayda, a former SpaceX engineer, told Via Satellite that the new funding will support two larger operational prototypes. The company is targeting an initial launch as early as the first quarter of 2028. Autonomous navigation and orbital defence A major development priority is relative navigation: enabling spacecraft to determine their position and movement relative to other objects in orbit. Fortastra is also developing perception software to identify nearby objects and autonomous control systems capable of making decisions without continuous ground intervention. The company has not disclosed the full capabilities of its spacecraft or the defensive mechanisms they could employ. However, vice-president of product Sahil Desai told Payload that the objective is to provide military operators with several options for responding to hostile spacecraft, rather than relying exclusively on highly destructive systems. The development comes as satellite infrastructure takes on greater significance for military communications, intelligence and surveillance. As previously reported by eeNews Europe in its coverage of Mitsubishi Electric’s investment in Array Labs , satellite-based sensing is attracting additional funding for defence and security applications. Manufacturing capacity and commercial opportunities Fortastra plans to use the investment to expand its engineering and operations workforce, increase testing capacity and develop a modular spacecraft platform suitable for volume manufacturing. The company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with US manufacturer Hadrian covering precision machining and additive manufacturing for national security spacecraft. Although government customers remain the immediate priority, Fortastra expects commercial satellite operators to require similar protective capabilities. Its longer-term ambition is to manufacture hundreds or potentially thousands of spacecraft annually, although deployment at that scale remains a future objective rather than an established capability. The post Fortastra spacecraft programme gains $30m in Series A appeared first on eeNews Europe .