ExLabs
Company Information
What Is ExLabs?
ExLabs, also known as Exploration Laboratories, is a space technology company developing spacecraft and mission services for operations beyond Earth orbit. Its primary technology is the Science, Exploration and Resources Vehicle (SERV), a modular spacecraft platform designed for asteroid rendezvous, hosted payloads, and long-duration deep-space missions. ExLabs provides spacecraft engineering, mission integration, navigation, and operations through its Mission as a Service model. Its planned Apophis EX mission will carry scientific payloads to asteroid Apophis ahead of its 2029 Earth encounter. The company’s technology supports planetary defense, asteroid research, and space resource exploration.
What Does ExLabs Do?
ExLabs designs spacecraft and organizes missions to destinations beyond conventional Earth orbit, including near-Earth asteroids and cislunar space. It develops reusable mission architectures intended to support scientific, commercial, and government payloads.
The company is developing SERV, a modular deep-space spacecraft platform that can host instruments, deploy smaller spacecraft, and perform proximity operations near asteroids. Its configurable architecture includes power, propulsion, communications, navigation, and payload integration systems.
Through its Mission as a Service program, ExLabs coordinates spacecraft development, payload integration, launch procurement, trajectory design, navigation, and mission operations. This allows organizations to participate in deep-space missions without independently developing an entire spacecraft.
Its first flagship mission, Apophis EX, is planned for launch in 2028. The spacecraft is intended to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis and carry instruments that study its physical characteristics, surface composition, and response to Earth’s gravitational influence during its 2029 flyby.
ExLabs also works on autonomous spacecraft navigation, robotic capture technology, and mission architectures for future asteroid prospecting and orbital infrastructure. Its longer-term roadmap includes recurring missions to near-Earth objects and other deep-space destinations.
ExLabs Technology
ExLabs develops modular spacecraft systems for missions beyond Earth orbit. Its engineering approach combines configurable spacecraft structures, electric propulsion, autonomous navigation, payload hosting, communications, and mission operations software.
The company’s primary platform is the Science, Exploration and Resources Vehicle (SERV). SERV is designed for operations from geostationary orbit to cislunar space and near-Earth asteroids. Its modular architecture supports different mission configurations without requiring a completely new spacecraft design for each destination.
SERV incorporates configurable power, communications, and payload interfaces. The spacecraft is designed to carry hosted scientific instruments and deploy smaller vehicles, including CubeSat-class probes, landers, and free-flying spacecraft. Its architecture supports multiple payloads sharing the same mission transportation and operations infrastructure.
For deep-space transportation, ExLabs describes an electric propulsion and low-thrust trajectory architecture. This approach is intended to support transfers from Earth orbit to asteroid destinations, followed by controlled rendezvous and proximity operations. Mission design must account for long transfer durations, navigation uncertainty, communications delays, and changing spacecraft power requirements.
The company is integrating autonomous navigation and spacecraft operations software to support missions at distances where continuous ground control is impractical. Its planned capabilities include trajectory correction, target approach, relative navigation, and operations near asteroid surfaces.
ExLabs has also worked on autonomous capture and acquisition technology through government-funded development programs. These efforts address the challenges of identifying, approaching, and interacting with objects in space. The company has described future applications involving asteroid capture and resource utilization, although these remain longer-term development objectives.
The SERV architecture can be configured as a single spacecraft or expanded into multi-vehicle arrangements. ExLabs describes dual and stacked configurations intended to increase payload capacity, operational flexibility, and support for servicing, deployment, and communications relay activities.
For Apophis EX, the company is developing a mission architecture that supports asteroid observation, hosted instruments, and the deployment of independent scientific payloads. ExLabs states that mission design and operations are supported through collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Why ExLabs Matters
Deep-space missions have traditionally required specialized spacecraft, extensive engineering programs, and significant financial resources. These requirements can limit opportunities for smaller research institutions and commercial organizations to conduct experiments beyond Earth orbit.
ExLabs’ shared deep-space mission model offers a different approach by allowing multiple organizations to fly instruments on a common spacecraft. Shared transportation, navigation, communications, and mission operations can reduce the amount of infrastructure each participant must develop independently.
Its planned Apophis EX mission is particularly relevant to planetary defense research. Close-range observations of Apophis during its 2029 Earth encounter could provide information about asteroid surface changes, rotational behavior, and gravitational interactions.
ExLabs’ broader SERV architecture could support future asteroid resource surveys, scientific missions, and deep-space infrastructure. The company’s ability to establish recurring commercial missions will depend on successful spacecraft development, launch execution, and demonstration of operations beyond Earth orbit.
ExLabs Products & Platforms
SERV — Science, Exploration and Resources Vehicle
SERV is ExLabs’ modular spacecraft platform designed for missions beyond Earth orbit. It integrates configurable propulsion, power, communications, navigation, and payload systems into a common architecture. The platform supports asteroid rendezvous, hosted scientific instruments, and autonomous deep-space operations. SERV is designed for missions ranging from geostationary orbit to near-Earth asteroids, with different configurations available for mission-specific requirements.
SERV Multi-Vehicle Configurations
ExLabs is developing dual and stacked SERV configurations that combine multiple spacecraft modules into larger mission architectures. These arrangements are intended to increase payload capacity and support more complex operations, including inspection, deployment, communications relay, and orbital logistics. The modular approach allows the company to adapt spacecraft capacity and mission capabilities without designing an entirely new platform for each application.
Apophis EX Mission
Apophis EX is a planned commercial deep-space mission scheduled to launch in 2028 and rendezvous with asteroid Apophis ahead of its 2029 Earth flyby. The mission will carry hosted scientific instruments and support the deployment of smaller payloads. Its research objectives include planetary defense, asteroid surface observations, and resource prospecting. ExLabs is developing the mission with support from scientific and commercial partners, including collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on mission design and operations.
Mission as a Service (MaaS)
Mission as a Service is ExLabs’ hosted deep-space mission offering. The service combines spacecraft development, payload integration, launch coordination, trajectory planning, navigation, and mission operations. Customers can install instruments aboard SERV or deploy independent probes and small spacecraft near mission destinations. The model provides shared transportation and mission infrastructure for scientific, commercial, government, and defense payloads.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Platform as a Service is ExLabs’ spacecraft hardware offering built around the SERV architecture. It is intended to provide configurable spacecraft systems for organizations developing their own missions. The offering includes modular spacecraft configurations and adaptable payload interfaces. Its purpose is to support spacecraft acquisition and mission-specific platform integration, although detailed commercial specifications remain under development.
Data as a Service (DaaS)
Data as a Service is ExLabs’ planned offering for providing information collected during deep-space missions. Potential datasets include asteroid observations, surface composition measurements, resource prospecting information, and planetary defense research. The service is intended to make deep-space scientific and environmental data available to organizations that do not operate their own spacecraft.
Autonomous Spacecraft Capture and Acquisition Technology
ExLabs has conducted research and development on autonomous spacecraft capture and acquisition systems through government-supported programs. The technology addresses navigation, target approach, and physical interaction with objects in space. Potential applications include spacecraft servicing, orbital object handling, and future asteroid resource operations. These capabilities remain part of the company’s development activities rather than an established commercial asteroid capture service.
Deep-Space Payload Deployment
ExLabs’ SERV architecture supports hosted instruments and deployable spacecraft, including CubeSat-class free flyers and small landing payloads. Its mission services include integration, transportation, communications relay, and operational coordination. This capability is being developed to support asteroid surface experiments, proximity observations, and independent scientific investigations during shared deep-space missions.
ExLabs Applications
ExLabs’ spacecraft and mission services support deep-space exploration, planetary defense, and asteroid research. Its SERV platform provides transportation and operational infrastructure for scientific instruments traveling beyond conventional Earth orbit.
The planned Apophis EX mission will support asteroid characterization and planetary defense research, including observations of surface conditions, rotational behavior, and changes associated with the asteroid’s close encounter with Earth.
Its hosted payload and deployment services are designed for universities, government agencies, and commercial organizations conducting experiments, remote sensing, resource surveys, and spacecraft technology demonstrations.
ExLabs is also developing spacecraft architectures for future cislunar operations, autonomous navigation, space infrastructure, and asteroid resource prospecting. These applications depend on continued development and successful execution of its planned deep-space missions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does ExLabs do?
ExLabs develops modular spacecraft and mission services for deep-space exploration. Its technology includes the SERV spacecraft platform, hosted payload transportation, autonomous navigation, and mission operations. The company is preparing its Apophis EX mission to study asteroid Apophis during its 2029 Earth encounter and is developing future missions for planetary defense, asteroid research, and space resource exploration.
What is the ExLabs SERV spacecraft?
SERV stands for Science, Exploration and Resources Vehicle. It is a modular spacecraft designed for missions beyond Earth orbit, including asteroid rendezvous and cislunar operations. The platform integrates propulsion, navigation, communications, power, and payload hosting capabilities. Its configurable architecture supports scientific instruments, deployable spacecraft, and multiple mission configurations.
What is the Apophis EX mission?
Apophis EX is ExLabs’ planned commercial deep-space rideshare mission to asteroid Apophis. Scheduled for launch in 2028, the mission is intended to rendezvous with the asteroid ahead of its close Earth flyby in 2029. It will carry scientific payloads to study asteroid characteristics, gravitational interactions, and potential surface changes, while demonstrating commercial deep-space mission capabilities.
How does ExLabs’ Mission as a Service model work?
ExLabs’ Mission as a Service model allows organizations to send instruments or small spacecraft to deep-space destinations without developing an entire mission independently. ExLabs manages spacecraft integration, launch coordination, navigation, communications, and operations. Customers can host instruments directly on SERV or deploy independent probes and landers near the destination.
Does ExLabs capture asteroids or mine space resources?
ExLabs has developed autonomous capture and acquisition technology and has described longer-term applications involving asteroid resources. However, its current publicly documented mission roadmap focuses on spacecraft development, asteroid rendezvous, scientific payload hosting, and resource prospecting. The company has not established a routine commercial asteroid capture or mining operation.
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