Balerion Principal Aidan Daoussis sits down with Troy Morris, Co-Founder & CEO of KMI Space, to discuss orbital logistics and satellite servicing. KMI is developing spacecraft and robotic capture systems designed to grapple, relocate, service, and remove objects in orbit. Its REACH end effector uses biomimetic tentacles and adhesion technology that the company demonstrated aboard the International Space Station through 172 capture cycles.
00:00 – Introduction to KMI Space and the “tow trucks for space” concept
02:47 – Biomimicry, gecko adhesion, and the REACH robotic capture system
04:54 – Demonstrating autonomous capture technology aboard the International Space Station
06:51 – Moving beyond debris removal toward satellite servicing and orbital logistics
10:53 – KMI’s founding story and the emergence of an in-space logistics market
15:00 – Comparing tentacles with robotic arms, nets, harpoons, magnets, and other capture approaches
19:23 – Lessons from 172 ISS capture cycles and testing REACH in microgravity
23:37 – What happens after capture: relocation, controlled reentry, and satellite repositioning
26:00 – National security applications and the risks of adversarial spacecraft maneuvering
29:08 – KMI’s technical moat, software, trade secrets, and barriers to replication
31:44 – Commercial demand, satellite failures, liability, and extending spacecraft life
33:51 – Returning spacecraft to Earth versus recycling and reusing materials in orbit
37:09 – In-space manufacturing, assembly, and a future orbital logistics infrastructure
39:22 – Scaling launch and reentry activity and potential new markets enabled by space access
43:04 – Orbital debris, commercial servicing demand, and preventing cascading collisions
47:15 – Kessler syndrome, KMI’s early research, and the long-term sustainability of orbital space
