Samara Aerospace is building the Hummingbird satellite bus, which replaces conventional reaction wheels with articulated solar-panel hinges that tilt up, down, left, and right to control attitude. The company claims this mechanism can make spacecraft up to 1,000 times more stable than legacy systems, reducing vibration, eliminating image blur, and improving pointing accuracy. By removing bulky reaction wheels, Hummingbird can also shrink satellite size and weight, allowing flatter, more stackable designs that lower launch costs. Samara’s first in-orbit hardware—a panel with two hinges—flew on Impulse Space’s Mira spacecraft aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-15 mission in November and has powered on successfully while awaiting its turn to perform a full experiment. The technology targets Earth-observation operators who need clearer imagery and optical-communications providers that require precise pointing, and it has also attracted interest from an aerospace prime for high-density launch deployment. With fresh funding, the team aims to launch its first dedicated Hummingbird satellite in summer 2027. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and recently secured $10 million in seed capital to accelerate development.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jan 2026