Momentus Space is a U.S. commercial space company that aims to provide in-space infrastructure services, including transportation, hosted payloads, and in-orbit services. They are developing orbital service vehicles, like Vigoride, powered by a water plasma-based propulsion system, to carry satellites and payloads between different orbits. Momentus is partnering with companies like Solstar Space and Velo3D, and has contracts with organizations like the U.S. Air Force.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Momentus completed a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in August 2021.
Momentus attempted to launch its first Vigoride tugs in January 2021 and June 2021 on SpaceX rideshare missions but the Federal Aviation Administration rejected the payload review for the vehicle due to Defense Department concerns about the company’s Russian co-founders and owners.
The June 2022 Transporter-5 launch will depend on Momentus fully implementing the NSA and obtaining the licenses required for the mission.
Momentus agreed to acquire its Russian co-founders’ shares for $40,000,000 as part of resolving national security concerns.
Momentus had $178,000,000 in cash on hand after completing its SPAC merger, which the company considers sufficient to carry it through to the early part of 2023.
The 2021-11-09 quarterly financial results were Momentus’ first since completing the SPAC merger.
Lockheed Martin originally planned to launch the Cryogenic Demonstration Mission spacecraft via Momentus, which would manifest the satellite on a Vigoride transfer vehicle launched on a Relativity Space Terran 1 rocket in 2023.
Momentus had a SPAC redemption rate of 20% when it closed its merger on 2021-08-12.
Momentus plans to make Vigoride tugs reusable and capable of proximity operations to pick up satellites launched on low-cost rideshare missions and deliver them to precise orbits.
Momentus plans to begin flights of its Vigoride space tugs in 2022.
Momentus completed its SPAC merger and started trading on the Nasdaq on 2021-08-13.
Momentus, Exolaunch, and Spaceflight are developing orbital transfer vehicles that provide post-separation delivery of satellites to different orbits.
Momentus was unable to complete a payload review by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation needed for the original launch and moved the mission to another Falcon 9 rideshare mission in June 2021.
The FAA denied the payload review for the June 2021 launch, citing national security concerns over Momentus’s Russian co-founders.
Aurora announced in December 2020 that AuroraSat-1 was manifested to launch on the first Vigoride tug by Momentus, then scheduled to launch in January 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
Momentus expects to launch its first Vigoride tug no earlier than June 2022 as it implements a national security agreement intended to address earlier concerns.
Momentus merged with a SPAC and began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker MNTS on 2021-08-13.
The Momentus merger was first announced 10 months before the 2021-08-11 shareholder vote.
Redemptions reduced the cash Momentus will receive from the SPAC from $173,000,000 to $137,000,000.
Shareholders of Stable Road Acquisition Corp. approved a merger with in-space transportation company Momentus on 2021-08-11.