Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin will likely buy the GalacticSky satellite technology assets of bankrupt Vector Launch Inc. after no other qualified bids were received by a court deadline.
As part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case Tucson-based Vector filed in mid-December, Lockheed Martin committed to bidding $4.25 million for assets related to Vector’s GalacticSky business — a planned orbiting computer platform of “software defined” satellites that can be adapted to various software applications while aloft.
Lockheed — which was sued by Vector last year for allegedly infringing on patents related to GalacticSky — also loaned Vector $500,000 and committed to providing $2.5 million in bankruptcy financing.
Founded in 2016 by a group of commercial space veterans, Vector was developing small rockets to take a new generation of micro-satellites into orbit and was working toward its first orbital flight when a key investor, Sequoia Capital, withdrew its support.
Secured lenders later seized most of the company’s remaining funds, prompting the bankruptcy filing, Vector said in bankruptcy documents.
Vector said in late January that it was seeking bids for the satellite business by Feb. 21 and would hold an auction of those assets Tuesday, Feb. 25, if other parties bid for the assets in competition with Lockheed.
Since Vector did not receive any qualifying competing bids by the deadline, Lockheed’s bid will likely be approved at a sale hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday, Feb. 28, according to court documents.
Shaun Coleman, a Vector board member and former general manager of GalacticSky, said that NewSpace Networks, a Silicon Valley space-software company he co-founded with two former Vector executives, had prepared a competing bid for the GalacticSky assets.
But with less than two weeks to review the financial information, the company’s financial backers couldn’t approve the funding in time, said Coleman, an early investor in Vector.
“We are of course disappointed that we did not win the bid but are still hopeful that we can work with Lockheed in the future to improve satellite technology for the industry,” he said in an email.
Vector had said it would pursue a separate marketing effort for its remaining small-rocket launch assets, if a bid for those assets was not received in connection with the GalacticSky sale.
Since no such bids were received, “the rocket side of the business is still in play as those assets are not part of the Lockheed acquisition,” Coleman said.
In its latest operating report to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Vector lists $10.5 million in debts and $15.6 million in assets, including $12.7 in property and equipment.
