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Momentus delays next orbital tug mission due to lack of funds

The orbital tug startup Momentus has now delayed its next orbital tug mission, scheduled to launch in March on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, due to shortage of cash in the bank.

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 also announced the layoff of 20% of its full-time workforce, on top of the 30% layoffs which occurred in the third quarter in 2023. It appears from the SEC filing that these layoffs are a result of not winning the military contract to build its Tranche-2 constellation, won by Rocket Lab earlier this week.

The company is presently seeking new investment capital.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

6 comments

  • Ray Van Dune

    With all the ads for cheap bathroom makeovers, an orbital tub mission couldn’t be THAT expensive!?

  • Ray Van Dune: Fixed, though I was lucky to figure out what the issue was, with you being so cute about it. I really appreciate people telling me when I make typos (especially because I am making so many these days), but please don’t make it a riddle for me.

    Thanks regardless.

  • Call Me Ishmael

    “… has now delayed its next orbital tub mission …’

    Well, actually …

  • wayne

    Call Me Ishmael-
    Har!
    well those keys are adjacent…

  • Ray Van Dune

    Well, I have made many editorial corrections, so I thought I could be forgiven a little fun.

    Yes those keys are adjacent, and so are T and Y. In my last job I had a lady boss who was excellent. On my last day (leaving amicably) I sent her a note asking her for some small favor that I can’t even remember now, remarking that she might find it difficult because she was very busy.

    At the swell retirement party they threw me, she suddenly put up a slide of the message I had sent her, saying it was an example of how careless people become when they think they are safely leaving. Sure enough, in my message, I had written that I knew that she might have difficulty doing.what I asked… because she was very “busty”!

    Like I said, she was a great boss!

  • Ray Van Dune: I don’t mind the fun, not at all. I just wish that AFTER the joke you had the stated the issue precisely, to help.

    It is not a big deal, believe me. I thank you (and everyone) again for your help.

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