Astrobotic expands with acquisition of Masten Area Methods • TechCrunch

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic has acquired Masten Area Methods after the latter firm filed for chapter safety on the finish of July. The acquisition comes following a profitable $4.5 million bid for Masten’s belongings in a Delaware chapter court docket earlier this month.

The acquisition consists of Masten’s substantial portfolio of area applied sciences, together with its vertical take-off and touchdown rocketry and propulsion check facilities. The acquisition brings the 2 corporations’ mixed workforce to over 200 staff, a few of whom will proceed to function at Masten’s headquarters in Mojave, California. Founder and CTO of Masten, David Masten, is becoming a member of Astrobotic as chief engineer.

Astrobotic stated it could proceed suborbital flight operations at Masten’s services in Mojave, whereas persevering with growth of the Xogdor rocket. This rocket, the most recent of Masten’s terrestrial landers, can be utilized by authorities and business clients to validate applied sciences like payload integration and touchdown techniques. Masten additionally maintains propulsion check stands, which can proceed to function beneath new possession.

“Masten’s suborbital launch autos and propulsion check facilities are nationwide belongings for the area trade,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton stated in an announcement. “We’re excited to function and broaden these companies for corporations, governments, and area businesses internationally,”

Masten can also be growing a sequence of lunar landers, and Astrobotic — which is sending two landers to the moon beneath contracts with NASA — will undoubtedly profit from the inflow of associated tech. That features “improvements in lunar night time survival, instantaneous touchdown pads development, lunar water mining expertise, and lunar infrastructure development applied sciences,” which can proceed to be developed, Astrobotic stated.

It’s unclear whether or not Astrobotic will fulfill Masten’s first lunar mission, Masten Mission 1. That mission, which is a part of NASA’s Business Lunar Payload Providers program, is scheduled for 2023.

The Delaware chapter court docket held an public sale for Masten’s belongings on September 6. Two corporations submitted further bids: Intuitive Machines, which bid $2.7 million for a SpaceX launch credit score, and $750,000 for testing tools from Impulse Area.