DENVER - Odin Space, a British startup that apparently finds tiny pieces of space junk as fascinating as the rest of us find them terrifying, announced plans May 7 to establish its first U.S. office in Los Angeles.
“We are expanding in the United States because that is where the demand has moved fastest, and where the strategic stakes of attribution are highest,” James New, Odin Space CEO and co-founder, said in a statement that sounds like it was drafted by someone who’s seen one too many satellites get obliterated by a rogue bolt.
Jerry Welsh, former CEO of Iceye U.S., will lead Odin’s Los Angeles office. Because nothing says “solving debris problems” like hiring someone who used to run a company that makes radar satellites, presumably to avoid the junk they now track.
Odin’s U.S. office will serve commercial and government satellite operators seeking information on debris larger than one millimeter - which is too small to be tracked by ground-based sensors but large enough to damage spacecraft since it’s traveling at orbital velocity, New told SpaceNews. So basically, everything between “annoying speck” and “catastrophic failure” is now their beat.
“Sub-centimeter debris has moved to the front of the mission-risk conversation,” New said. “Operators have been flying blind for years. They have no baseline for the debris environment, no way to know when their spacecraft has been struck, no way to attribute a failure caused by debris, and no affordable way to insure against this growing risk.” In other words, space is becoming a bumper-car rink without the bumpers.
Odin also announced that Arkisys, a Southern California startup developing modular spacecraft, is the first U.S. customer for a product line that combines Odin’s Nano Sensor - which detects and analyzes debris strikes - with insurance for debris collisions. Because if you can’t stop the junk, at least you can get a payout when it rearranges your satellite.
Lloyd’s of London underwriters is providing the collision insurance. Odin sensors will furnish independent verification of debris strikes for the insurance policies. Finally, a use for that “black box for spacecraft” that’s roughly the size of an adhesive bandage.
“When a satellite fails in orbit, its operator usually has no way of knowing whether it was struck, what struck it, or where the impact came from,” New said. “Sub-centimeter detection is what turns a silent failure into usable evidence.” Because every satellite deserves the right to know what killed it.
In addition to Nano Sensor, Odin is developing Outpost, a dedicated satellite with a deployable sensor for reconnaissance and monitoring. “You would put multiple Outposts near critical infrastructure, whether that’s defense satellites, data centers or space stations, to tell you within minutes if there’s a new debris field or a kinetic attack,” New said. “Outpost will tell you how much debris there is, how fast it’s traveling and its trajectory so you can find point of origin.” So if someone decides to turn a satellite into confetti, Outpost will know exactly who to blame.
Odin Space raised $3 million in a December 2025 funding round to expand its staff and miniaturize its debris sensor that was initially launched on D-Orbit’s ION satellite carrier in 2023. Because in space, no one can hear you scream about a $3 million round.