Troy Morris is the co-founder and CEO of KMI Space, a Michigan company developing “Relocation as a Service” (RaaS): spacecraft that can move, service, reposition, extend the life of, and eventually remove other objects in orbit. KMI’s approach treats orbital mobility as shared infrastructure rather than a capability every satellite must carry alone. Its REACCH capture system has been tested on the International Space Station, while the planned Laelaps mission is intended to rendezvous with, retrieve and relocate multiple satellites.
Who is Troy Morris?
Morris co-founded KMI Space in 2019 with Austin Morris and Adam Kall. He initially served as the company’s director of operations and became CEO in 2023. Before founding KMI, he spent more than four years at Snap-on Tools in customer service, product sales and business-development roles.
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Morris says the founding team reconnected after their early careers and considered what infrastructure would be needed as reusable launch systems made access to orbit more common. Their discussions repeatedly returned to the difficulty of moving safely around objects already in orbit, including debris. That problem led KMI from an initial debris-focused idea toward a broader mobility and logistics business.
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What KMI Space does
KMI calls its business model Relocation as a Service. Instead of requiring each satellite to include every propulsion, maneuvering and servicing capability it might eventually need, an external vehicle could visit the satellite and perform a specific mission.
| RaaS use case | What the service would do |
|---|---|
| Relocation | Move a satellite that can no longer maneuver effectively or place it in a different orbit. |
| Life extension | Help a productive spacecraft continue operating after it needs external mobility or support. |
| Redeployment | Change the orbit or position of an imaging satellite for a new mission. |
| Servicing | Provide external access for maintenance or other support activities. |
| End-of-life operations | Manage disposal or controlled removal of a spacecraft. |
| Active debris removal | Capture and remove abandoned objects before they become larger collision hazards. |
Morris identifies operators’ working satellites as the strongest near-term commercial opportunity: preserving the value of an asset that still produces useful data but needs relocation or servicing. KMI also places the technology in a national-security context, where spacecraft maneuvering, satellite failures, liability and the risk of cascading collisions matter alongside commercial returns.
How REACCH captures satellites without docking ports
REACCH is KMI’s mechanically articulated capture system. It combines adaptive mechanical movement with gecko-inspired adhesion to grip objects that were not built with a standard docking or servicing interface.
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That distinction is important because many potential targets in orbit are legacy spacecraft, spent upper stages or debris. A servicing system designed only for prepared docking fixtures would have a narrower set of targets. KMI says REACCH is intended to offer a lower-mass, lower-power and less complex alternative to very large robotic systems, although the company presents those as design goals rather than a published independent comparison.
KMI reported that REACCH completed 172 capture cycles during six International Space Station testing sessions, according to Morris’s 2026 interview. The system spent more than 200 days in orbit. Repeating the operation in microgravity exposed edge cases and generated real-world data that could be compared with simulations.
Morris describes the intended level of intervention plainly: “We’re not trying to perform eye surgery in space. We’re building a forklift or a tow truck.” The analogy does not mean orbital capture is simple; it highlights KMI’s focus on robustly grasping and moving objects rather than performing delicate, highly specialized repairs.
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What Laelaps is supposed to do
KMI’s first-party description says its STRATFI-supported Laelaps mission will develop, integrate and operate a spacecraft designed to “rendezvous, retrieve, and relocate multiple satellites in orbit.” In practical terms, Laelaps is the planned servicing platform that would turn the capture and mobility concept into repeated missions involving more than one satellite.
The available description does not establish a launch date, a commercial customer or a price for Laelaps. KMI’s longer-term vision also includes reusable servicing spacecraft in near-Earth orbit and a proposed Shepard collection station, but those concepts should be understood as future infrastructure plans rather than currently operating facilities.
Where automation and machine learning fit
Morris generally uses the word automation rather than AI when discussing mission-critical operations. Software can assist with rendezvous, navigation, trajectory planning and autonomous spacecraft operations, but these functions still have to meet the reliability demands of a physical mission in orbit.
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KMI used machine-learning systems to train algorithms before its ISS demonstration. The microgravity results provide a way to compare predicted behavior with observed behavior and improve the models. That process is especially relevant for capture, where small differences in motion, contact geometry or object response can determine whether a maneuver succeeds.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why orbital towing is difficult
Once an object is in orbit, it continues moving at roughly 17,500 miles per hour as a minimum orbital speed, according to Morris’s explanation in the MSU interview. This is an interview description, not an independently measured statistic supplied with the company profile, and actual orbital speeds vary by altitude and trajectory.
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A servicing vehicle therefore cannot approach a satellite as a terrestrial tow truck approaches a parked car. It must match the target’s orbit, control relative motion, avoid collision, establish a secure mechanical connection and then change the combined system’s trajectory. The target may also be uncooperative, tumbling or lacking a purpose-built interface.
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Those constraints explain KMI’s emphasis on repeatable capture tests. “Instead of getting one attempt and hopefully learning one lesson, we could repeat the process again and again,” Morris said. Repetition helps reveal failure modes that a single demonstration might miss.
What KMI’s approach could change
- Satellites could be designed around external support: operators might not need to put every mobility or servicing function on every spacecraft.
- Working assets could remain productive longer: relocation or servicing may preserve revenue from satellites that are still useful but no longer fully maneuverable.
- Unprepared objects could become reachable targets: adaptive capture is aimed at spacecraft and debris without standard interfaces.
- Removal could become part of normal operations: end-of-life handling and active debris removal are included in the same mobility architecture.
The business case remains under development. No independently published market-size figure, specific customer contract or commercial price is established in the available material. KMI’s central proposition is that orbital mobility can become a service layer: a fleet of specialized vehicles supporting many spacecraft over time.
The Bottom Line
KMI Space’s Troy Morris is pursuing orbital mobility as infrastructure. Its REACCH system has demonstrated repeated capture operations in ISS testing, and the planned Laelaps mission is intended to retrieve and relocate multiple satellites. The technology’s practical promise is not limited to debris removal: it could help operators reposition, service and extend the lives of working spacecraft.
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