BY Fraser Tennant
Signalling serious financial distress and putting at risk a NASA-funded mission to send one of its landers to the surface of the moon, pioneering NewSpace company Masten Space Systems has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Masten is one of five companies that had won contracts from NASA to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. NASA issued an award originally valued at $75.9m to Masten in April 2020 to deliver a suite of experiments to the lunar surface using its XL-1 lander.
However, the NASA contract did not cover the entire cost of mission and Masten had difficulty raising additional funds by finding private payloads to fly to the lunar surface. Originally scheduled for 2022, the mission was pushed back to November 2023 because of what the company said in June 2021 were pandemic-related supply chain issues.
“NASA received notification its payloads slated for delivery aboard Masten Mission One may be impacted by Masten business operations,” said NASA in a statement. “The agency is working closely with the company to ensure that any potential changes comply with federal acquisition regulations. In the event Masten is unable to complete its task order, NASA will manifest its payloads on other flights.”
According to the Chapter 11 filing, Masten, based in Mojave, California, has estimated assets of between $10m and $50m, and estimated liabilities in the same range. Among the company’s creditors are SpaceX, Psionic LLC, Astrobotic Technology, NuSpace and Frontier Aerospace.
The filing follows months of losing key employees, including Sean Mahoney, chief executive, and Reuben Garcia, director of technical operations and manager of landing systems.
The company has also laid off 20 employees, including 15 engineers working on the XL-1 lander.
“Masten intends to use the Chapter 11 process to streamline its expenses, optimise its operations and conduct sale processes that maximise value for its unsecured creditors,” said Masten in a statement. “We expect the case to move quickly in order to minimise expenses.”
The company has also furloughed the remainder of its staff in the hope that they can be brought back if the company’s financial situation improves.
“We are hopeful that the Chapter 11 process will enable us to continue operations and deliver value for our customers and the space industry,” concluded Masten.
News: Space company Masten files for bankruptcy after struggle with NASA moon contract