A render of Sierra Space’s Velocity satellite bus
Source: Sierra Space
In preparation for the spacecraft’s maiden flight and initial public offering next 12 months, Sierra Space is expanding its satellite offering.
Ahead of the long-awaited solar eclipse, the industrial space unicorn unveiled its aptly named line of Eclipse satellite buses – the important structures of satellites – intended to serve a wide selection of missions in orbits from low Earth to the cis-Moon.
“We actually waited for six months, so it’s something like that [name]we really thought about it,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space, in an interview on CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast. “I think the name is very appropriate because I think it will change everything in terms of the affordability of building next-generation buses for next-generation satellites.”
Valued at $5.3 billion in September, Sierra Space was spun off from defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation three years ago. The independent subsidiary, boasting a three-decade heritage in spaceflight, is the result of an ambitious early plan undertaken by SNC billionaire couple Fatih and Eren Ozmen.
Sierra Space touts a various portfolio of space and defense technologies, including space transportation, space habitability, propulsion and satellites. He is maybe best known for his NASA-contracted Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane, which can fly cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station and eventually ferry humans to and from orbit.
It can be working on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin industrial space station called Orbital Reef, and in January it signed a prestigious $740 million contract with the Pentagon to develop a constellation of missile-tracking satellites for the U.S.
Eclipse’s offering takes it further into the spacecraft subsystems business.
Vice said that within the case of Dream Chaser, it’s “very confident” that the primary flight will happen within the fourth quarter of this 12 months. He added that the spaceplane passed its first phase of environmental testing in March and said that since it would carry cargo to the ISS during its first demonstration, the corporate depends on NASA’s manifest and is working with the FAA to acquire a reentry license.
An artist’s impression of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane on this undated flyer obtained on March 25, 2022.
Sierra Space | via Reuters
“Dream Chaser is also a vehicle that can spend a year in orbit and act as an orbiting space station for microgravity research,” Vice said, referring to the R&D and manufacturing opportunities he and the corporate consider will materialize in low orbit around Earth. providing the business case for spaceplane and its space habitats.
Sierra Space has identified 4 segments that it believes could possibly be leveraged by microgravity to disrupt industries on Earth: stem cells, oncology, vaccines and industrial glass. According to Vice, these markets collectively reached $900 billion in 2022 and are growing at such a rate that they may reach roughly $3.7 trillion by 2038.
“There are some things you can do that are radically different in terms of protein crystallization that we know will actually make better drugs. So we think this is actually a huge market for us,” he said.
In the near future, Sierra is targeted on completing a Series B financing round to lift capital for potential acquisitions, launching Dream Chaser, and ensuring a powerful financial position ahead of a possible initial public offering as early as next 12 months.
“We’ll start looking at it as an option and we’ll make a decision depending on what the markets look like,” he told Vice. “But I think we’re very quickly becoming a company that can show significant revenue growth.”
According to Vice, Sierra sales are expected to double in 2024. Its backlog now exceeds $4 billion, and the corporate is working to develop into money flow positive.
After significant layoffs in November, Sierra Space also plans to double its workforce this 12 months.
While it has received offers to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), it plans to pursue a conventional IPO process.
“We are a company that is thinking a lot about ushering in the most profound industrial revolution in human history,” Vice explained.
Credit : www.cnbc.com