Space SPAC Index – Redwire, Astra, and Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck File to Sell Stock

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this edition, Astra announced a reverse stock split and filed to sell more shares, Redwire filed to raise $400 million, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck plans to sell millions in stock, Rocket Lab won a contract for four HASTE launches, Planet Labs and SatixFy reported higher revenues, Virgin Galactic completed another commercial flight, Terran Orbital doubled its satellite production capacity, and Satellogic announced a new partnership.

Astra does reverse stock split, files to raise funds

Astra Space (Nasdaq: ASTR) announced that a 1-for-15 reverse stock split would be completed after the trading day ended on Nasdaq today (September 13). A reverse stock split is when a large number of shares is exchanged for a smaller number of more valuable shares. Astra is facing an early October deadline to raise its stock price to at least $1 or face being delisted from Nasdaq. The stock closed down 23 percent at $0.16 prior to the reverse stock split.

Astra also filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $100 million by selling common and preferred stock, debt securities, debt warrants, equity warrants, rights, and units. The company has been struggling with growing losses and low revenue. The company announced last month that it had laid off a quarter of its workforce and redirected 50 engineers from developing the Rocket 4 launcher to building spacecraft engines.

Space SPAC Index
September 13, 2023

Redwire files to raise funds

Redwire (NYSE: RDW) filed to raise $400 million through the sale of common and preferred stock, warrants, and subscription rights units. The company will use the funds for general corporate purposes that include the repayment of debt, working capital, capital expenditures, and acquisitions.

Peter Beck files to sell shares

Rocket Lab’s (Nasdaq: RKLB) stock declined 12 percent on Tuesday after CEO Peter Beck filed to sell 3.6 million shares on September 11. The shares would be worth $19.3 million at the closing price of $5.37 today (September 13). It is not known when the sale will close.

Rocket Lab wins HASTE contract

Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) announced it has signed a contract with Leidos to launch four suborbital Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) missions in 2024 and 2025. The flights will be conducted from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Leidos selected Rocket Lab to provide hypersonic test launch capabilities with HASTE under the MACH-TB project. The project was awarded by Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane on behalf of the US Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center (TRMC).

In related news, Rocket Lab announced the window for the next orbital Electron launch will open on September 19, 2023. The ‘We Will Never Desert You’ mission will launch Capella Space’s third-generation Acadia synthetic aperture radar satellite from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. It will be Rocket Lab’s third launch for Capella this year.

Planet Labs reports higher revenue

Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) reported its second-quarter revenue rose 11 percent year-over-year and that its net loss narrowed over the same period. Revenue for the second quarter, ending July 11, was $53.8 million, an increase from $48.5 million during the second quarter of 2022. Revenue for the first six months of 2023 was $106.5 million, an increase from $88.6 million during the same period last year.

Planet’s second-quarter net loss shrunk year-over-year from $39.5 million to $38 million. Net loss for the first six months fell from $83.9 million to $72.4 million.

In August, the San Francisco-based company laid off 117 employees, which amounted to 10 percent of its workforce. CEO Will Marshall said the layoffs were due to the expansion of the company that he oversaw.

“We recently announced a restructuring of our teams to align resources behind our high-priority growth opportunities and reinforce our path to profitability,” CFO Ashley Johnson said in a press release. “We are sharpening our focus and getting more efficient as a company, which we believe will support growth in our core markets and healthy bottom line performance going forward. Our balance sheet is strong with $367.8 million of cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments as of the end of the quarter and no debt.”

Virgin Galactic completes 3rd commercial flight

Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) completed its third commercial flight on September 8. American Ken Baxter, Adrian Reynard of the United Kingdom, and British citizen Timothy Nash from South Africa are “founder” customers who paid for their tickets more than a decade ago when tickets cost $200,000. (They now cost $450,000). Nash, a Las Vegas real estate investor, said he was the first person to buy a ticket in 2004.

SatixFy reports first-half results

SatixFy Communications (NYSE AMERICAN: SATX) reported $5.7 million in total revenues for the first half of 2023, an increase of 71 percent over the $3.3 million received during the same period last year. Other key year-over-year metrics for the first six months included:

Gross profit: $2.3 million, up from $1.8 million
Operating loss: $16.6 million, up from $12.5 million
Net loss: $46.5 million ($0.57 per basic share), up from $15.4 million ($0.98 per basic share).

SatixFy had cash and cash equivalents totaling $11.5 million as of June 30, 2023. The company had $11.9 million in cash and cash equivalents on December 31, 2022.

Last month, SatixFy announced a $60 million transaction under which the company sold its SatixFy Space Systems UK Ltd. satellite payload subsidiary to MDA. The two companies also signed commercial agreements under which they will work together.

Terran Orbital doubles satellite production capacity

Terran Orbital (NYSE: LLAP) announced the official opening of a new 60,000-square-foot (5,574-square-meter) satellite manufacturing space on September 11. The addition increases the company’s manufacturing space to 98,000 square feet (9,104 square meters) in Irvine, California. The addition enables Terra Orbital to double its production rate from 10 to 20 satellites per month.

Satellogic partners with SkyWatch

Satellogic (Nasdaq: SATL) announced a partnership to make its Earth observation data available on Sky Watch’s EarthCache platform.

“EarthCache provides an intuitive interface and robust API that enables customers to browse archive data, as well as task new satellite imagery by using a variety of criteria,” Satellogic said in a press release.