Space SPAC Index – Astra Space, Momentus See Shares Sink After Reverse Stock Splits

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In today’s edition, we’ll look at what happened to shares of Astra Space, Momentus, and Spire Global after the companies did reverse stock splits. Spire and Planet Labs won NASA data purchase contracts, Spire’s senior suits signed new contracts, Rocket Lab acquired another production facility, Intuitive Machines opened a new facility to support its lunar missions, astronomers escalated their concerns about AST SpaceMobile’s massive satellites, and Redwire is sending its technology to another asteroid.

Astra & Momentus shares declined after reverse stock splits

A reverse stock split in which a large number of shares are exchanged for a smaller number of more valuable shares can significantly increase a company’s stock price. However, two space SPACs are discovering there’s no guarantee the shares will retain their higher values once trading resumes.

Astra Space (Nasdaq: ASTR) and Momentus (Nasdaq: MNTS) have seen their share prices decline significantly since their reverse stock splits. On the other hand, Spire Global’s (NYSE: SPIR) shares have remained stable. The three companies undertook the splits in order to raise their share prices above $1 and avoid being delisted by their respective stock exchanges.

Space SPAC Reverse Stock Splits

Shares of Momentus opened at $9.60 on August 24 after a 1:50 reverse split. The stock closed at $1.10 on Wednesday (October 4), a decline of 88.5 percent.

Astra’s shares, which opened at $2.21 after a 1:15 reverse stock split on September 14, closed at $1.64 on October 4. This represents a decline of 25.8 percent.

Spire Global’s share price has remained steady since its 1:8 reverse stock split on August 31. The stock opened at $4.45 after the split, and closed at $4.41 on October 4.

Space SPAC Index
October 4, 2023

NASA extends data purchase agreement with Planet

NASA has extended its five-year-old blank purchase agreement with Planet under the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program (CSDA) with multiple orders totaling $18.5 million through 2024. Under the CSDA program, approved federally-funded civilian researchers and federal civilian agency employees to access Planet’s 50-petabyte archive of PlanetScope imagery for scientific use and Earth science applications.

NASA selects Spire Global for data purchases

NASA selected Spire Global as one of seven companies to provide commercial Earth observation data and related services under the CSDA program. The agency will purchase data under five-year fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts. The maximum potential value of the contracts is a cumulative $476 million among the seven companies selected. NASA has an option to extend purchases for an additional six months. The other six companies selected included:

• Airbus DS Geo, Inc. of Herndon, Virginia
• Capella Space Corp. of San Francisco, California
• GHGSat, Inc. of Montreal, Ontario
• Maxar Intelligence, Inc. of Westminster, Colorado
• Space Sciences and Engineering (doing business as PlanetiQ) of Golden, Colorado
• Umbra Lab, Inc., of Santa Barbara, California.

Spire Global CEO & COO move to Germany, sign new contracts

Spire Global President and CEO Peter Platzer and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Theresa Condor, who are husband and wife, signed new employment agreements effective October 1 with the company’s German subsidiary. The contracts, which have no set terms, resulted from the couple’s company-requested relocation from Luxembourg to Germany. Employment contracts with Spire’s Luxembourg subsidiary were terminated.

Platzer’s contract included:

• An annual base salary of €441,177 (USD $463,479),
• annual bonuses if he achieves specified goals,
• eligibility for annual equity grants,
• grant of 7,402 restrictive stock units (RSUs) worth approximately USD $34,715 (€33,043), due to Germany’s tax rate being 5.7% higher than Luxembourg’s rate.

Condor’s contract included:

• An annual base salary of €392,157 (USD $411,957),
• annual bonuses with a target incentive of 90 percent of the annual base salary (€352,941/$370,773),
• eligibility for annual equity grants,
• grant of 4,360 RSUs worth approximately USD $20,448 (€19,464), also due to the higher tax rate in Germany.

Rocket Lab acquires SailGP Technologies

Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) has acquired SailGP Technologies’ manufacturing complex in Warkworth, New Zealand. SailGP is relocating its operations to the United Kingdom. Rocket Lab will lease the 70,000-square-foot complex and retain more than 50 or 90 percent of SailGP’s New Zealand-based staff. SailGP has been a long-time partner of and supplier to Rocket Lab, providing advanced composite materials and components.

Earlier this year, Rocket Lab acquired Virgin Orbit’s production facility in Long Beach, Calif., after Richard Branson’s launch company went bankrupt and ceased operations.

Intuitive Machines opens lunar center

Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) opened a Lunar Production and Operations Center at the Houston Spaceport on September 29. The company said the center is now fully capable of supporting Intuitive Machines’ three commercial missions to land on the Moon. Intuitive Machines’ first mission is scheduled for launch later this year. NASA has provided funding for the missions under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Construction on the center began in June 2021.

Astronomers increasingly concerned about AST SpaceMobile satellites

AST SpaceMobile’s (Nasdaq: ASTS) BlueWalker 3 communications satellite is one of the brightest objects in the night sky, according to a scientific paper published by the journal Nature on October 2. The paper, which is based on observations made by astronomers, has renewed concerns about the impact the company’s planned constellation of 243 satellites will have on astronomy. BlueWalker 3 uses a 64-square-meter antenna to communicate with the ground.

AST SpaceMobile said it is working with NASA and some astronomy groups to research solutions to the problem.

Redwire technology to fly on Psyche asteroid mission

NASA’s mission to asteroid 16 Psyche will include 10 coarse sun sensors supplied by Redwire (NYSE: RDW) that the Pysche spacecraft will use to accurately navigate the stars during its 2.2-billion-mile journey. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the spacecraft on October 12.