ORLANDO, Fla. — In-space transportation company Momentus has postponed the next flight of its space tug and laid off a fifth of its staff to conserve its dwindling cash reserves.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Jan. 12, Momentus announced it did not plan to fly its next tug, Vigoride-7, on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 rideshare launch in March. The company said it called off the flight because of its “inability to support continuing operations for the expected launch date as a result of the Company’s limited liquidity and cash balance.”
The company said in November that it has signed up seven customers who planned to deploy satellites on Vigoride-7 and two other customers who would operate hosted payloads on the vehicle, but did not identify then. Momentus also intended to fly a rendezvous and proximity operations demonstration on the vehicle as part of its long-term plans for reusable tugs.
Momentus did not provide specifics about its limited liquidity. It reported having cash and equivalents of $9.7 million at the end of its fiscal third quarter Sept. 30. Momentus reported a net loss of $15.2 million in the quarter with revenue of $339,000. The company raised $11.85 million in gross proceeds in the fourth quarter through a series of stock transactions.
In addition to postponing the Vigoride-7 mission, Momentus said it laid off 20% of its full-time employees and contractors “to reduce its cash burn rate while retaining the talent it needs to execute on its key near-term initiatives.” The company laid off 30% of its staff late in the second quarter of 2023, also to cut costs.
Momentus also disclosed in its SEC filing that it also failed to win a Space Development Agency contract for Tranche 2 Tracking Layer satellites. It had submitted a proposal using a satellite bus it announced last year based on Vigoride.
Momentus said it is actively working to raise money but has yet to secure “definitive…
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