Small Satellite Market Intelligence Report Provides an Update of the Small Satellites Launched in Q1 2021 (1St January to 31St March 2021)

MARKET 2021 INTELLIGENCE REPORT

This issue of the Satellite Applications Q1 Catapult’s quarterly Small Satellite Market Intelligence report provides an update of the small satellites launched in Q1 2021 (1st January to 31st March 2021). This edition also includes a short article on the rising popularity of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) within the space industry. 2 LA S once, aftercarrying143satellitesintoorbitwiththefi to launched 490 sent they Q1, Continuing launches. 1163. over double the number The OVERVIEW March. their launch their successfully before aircraft carrier its from released The beginning 0 MALL SATELLITES 2 UNCHED INQ1 first q 1 It would be fair to Number of Small Satellites 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 uarter o 200 400 600 800 ih h ted f eet years, recent of trend the with 0 1445. operations Note: Themathematical modellineinthegraphabove (simulatinganaccelerating small satellitemarket of 0021 0221 0421 0621 0821 0022 022023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Q1 saw the f t satellites At the beginning of beginning the At his y assume, this of ear h small of quarter, maiden fl as seen a r a as seen their satellites based on this Starlink with ight o Number ofSmallSatellitesLaunched the ecord n launched in the entirety of 36 year, SpaceX also broke the record for record the broke also SpaceX year, f V constellation SpaceX of irgin O rate, their constellation their umber of small s small umber of that 2021 will delivering Year rst missionoftheirSmallsatRideshareprogram. rbit’s L cone fr the for accounted into space, into auncherOne, their 2 10 atellites launched into o into atellites launched see small being 2019 bringing another satellites majority launched and is nearly their record-breaking -stage e f anhs this launches of into orbit. OneWeb also OneWeb orbit. into total the by a Soyuz a two xpendable r most number of number rbit. T thirds spacecraft year for small he Q rocket of quarter ocket, which Starlink the 2020 1 t Large Satellites Model Small Satellite Mathematical SmallSatellites Historical 2021 Q1 at the at otal o launched continued (65%). satellites satellite f 757 total end 02 was of of at In is satellites launched wereinthesingledigits. a planned650satelliteconstellation. Therestofthefiguresweremadeup9 otherentities,whosenumberof who had36satellitesdelivered successfullytoorbit,bringingtheirtotalnumber ofsatelliteslaunchedto146out who continuedthelaunch of theirpicosatelliteInternetThings(IoT)constellation. TheywerefollowedbyOneWeb, having sent490intoorbit this quarter.Thenextlargestcompanywithincategory wasSwarmTechnologies(48) category. SpaceX’sStarlink satellitesaccountedforapproximately82%ofcommunications satelliteslaunched, Of the757smallsatelliteslaunchedthisquarter,around 79%(597)fallunderthecommunicationsapplication • • • Applications aredefinedbytheprimaryobjectiveofmissionascategorisedbelow: APPLICATIONS phenomena ortotestthefunctionalityofpayloadequipment. Earth oritsatmosphere. Earth observation/Remote sensing: Technology/Scientific: Communications: the objective of the mission is to transmit or receive signals to/from a user terminal or gateway Percentage 20% 40% 60% 80% 0% Number of Small Satellites Launched 1000 1200 1400 200 400 600 800 0 0021 0221 0421 0621 0821 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 0021 0221 0421 0621 0821 002021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

h ojcie f h msin s o ahr nweg t bte udrtn physical understand better to knowledge gather to is mission the of objective the Percentage ShareofSmallSatellitesbyApplication Small SatellitesLaunchedbyApplication the objective of the mission is to provide imagery or data relating to the to relating data or imagery provide to is mission the of objective the Year Year Q1 2021-Communications SensingObservation/Remote Q1 2021-Earth Q1 2021-Technology/Scientiﬁc Historical -Communications SensingObservation/Remote Historical -Earth Historical -Technology/Scientiﬁc Historical -Unknown/Other 2021 Q1

03 Technology/Scientific satelliteslaunchedinonequarter. the entitiesinthiscategoryweregovernmentorganisations.These87satelliteslaunchedarelargest number of other academicorganisationsmadeupthebulkoftheseentities,accountingfor3959total.Theremainder o WARP 01missionobjectivewastodemonstrateanumberofnewsatellitetechnologycomponents.Universities and company SPUTNIXwholaunchedahigh-resolutiontelescopecamera,andJapanesestartupWarpspace, whose commercial companies.TheseincludedAstroscale,withthelaunchofdebrisremovalELSA-dmission,Russian spread across59differententitiesthatlaunchedbetween1and4satelliteseach.Oftheseentities,therewere12 There were87smallsatelliteslaunchedintheTechnology/Scientificcategorywithinfirstquarter.These as partofEarthobservationmissions. Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) also contributed one satellite each to the statistics a piecetotheirrelativelysmallsatelliteconstellations.TheKoreanAerospaceResearchInstitute(KARI)and orbit toaddtheirconstellations.MeanwhileBlackSkyGlobal,iQPS,R2SpaceandGHGSatIncadded1satellite part oftheirconstellation.CapellaSpaceandFinnishmicrosatellitemanufacturerICEYEeachsent2satellitesinto while HawkEye360madeuseofSpaceX’srideshareprogramtolaunchthefirstseven3Hawksatelliteclustersa manufactured spacecraft.AxelSpacesenttheirfirst4micro-satellitesintoorbitaspartofGRUSconstellation, the 73launched.Spireadded8newsatellitestotheirLemurconstellationwhichnowconsistsof126in-hous Planet LabsclaimjustoverhalfoftheEarthObservation/RemoteSensingsmallsatellitesinQ1,accountingfor48 f s e 04 SIZE ANDMASS to aquarterof these,whiletherestwere spreadamong12otherentities. Micro-satellites weretheleastpopularchoice thisquarter,with32 micro-satellitessentinto orbit.Keplercontributed 15 launched. academic institutesandwas alsothesecondmostpopularchoiceforgovernment entities,accountingfor3ofthe hoped tobecompletedby theendof2021.Pico-satellitesmadeupother24 satelliteslaunchedthisquarterby January andoneinFebruary. Thisnowtakestheirconstellationtotalto93pico-satellites ofaplanned150,whichis (63%) afteraddinganother 480.25USpaceBEEsatellitestotheirIoTconstellation deployedin2batches–one Following alongwithrecenttrends,SwarmTechnologies capturedamajorityofthepico-satellitemarketshare to thenano-satellitecategory. mass category.Thissentimentisechoedbygovernment entities,as9oftheir15satelliteslaunchedinQ1belonged to bethepopularchoiceforacademicinstitutionswith 34ofthe58academicsatelliteslaunchedfallingwithinthis accounted for40%ofthesesatellites,adding48Dove satellitestotheirconstellation.Nanosatellitesalsoappeared Nano-satellites werethenextmostpopularchoicethis quarter,with120nano-satelliteslaunched.PlanetLabs Aerospace ResearchInstitute’sEarthobservationCAS500 satellite. 490 andOneWebwith36.Thetworemainingsatellites wereAstroscale’sELSA-dchasersatelliteandtheKorean falling intothiscategory.Twocompaniesaccounted for99%ofthemini-satelliteslaunchedinQ1–SpaceXwith Mini-satellites continuedtodominatethesmallsatellitemarketthisquarter,with528outof757satellites launched Small Satellite<500kg Satellite

classification

Number of Small Satellites Launched 1000 1200 200 400 600 800 0 0021 0221 0421 0621 0821 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Small SatellitesLaunchedbyMassCategory Pico-satellite Nano-satellite Micro-satellite Mini-satellite

Satellite

subclassification Year

0.1 kg–1 1 kg–10 10 kg–100 100 kg-500 Associatedwetmassrange 2021 Q1 Q1 2021-MINI Historical -PICO Historical -NANO Historical -MICRO Historical -MINI Historical Q1 2021-PICO Q1 2021-NANO Q1 2021-MICRO

05 ORGANISATION further highlightstheevolvingroleofgovernmentsinNewSpaceera. government launchedsmallsatellitesdoesnotseemtobeindangerjustyet,ifthecurrentratecontinues. This which isagainasignofrecoveryduetotheeasingCOVID-19restrictions.However,2018record 66 The figureforgovernmentlaunchesthisquarter(15)alsosignalsahealthyimprovementonlastyear’stotal (30), to go. breaking therecordnumberof87academicsmallsatelliteslaunchedin2018,withanother9months yearleft of theacademicactivitylastyear.However,itisstillnotethatthisfigure58alreadytwothirds thewayto launched intheentiretyof2020(34).ThiscouldbeattributedtofactthatCOVID-19pandemichindered muc The58smallsatelliteslaunchedbyacademicentitiesthisquarterfarsurpassesthefigurefor satellites active typeofentity,with62smallsatelliteslaunched. four companiesfromtheequation,commercialsatelliteswouldstillhaveprovedtobeen themost 490, PlanetLabswith48,SwarmTechnologies48andOneWeb36.Interestingly,evenifweremove these entities, respectively.Fourcompaniescontributedto90%ofthesecommercialsmallsatellitestatistics:SpaceX with 90% (684)ofsmallsatelliteslaunchedthisquarter,comparedto8%(58)and2%(15)byacademicgovernmen The dominanceofcommercialcompaniesintheNewSpaceerashowsnosignlettingup,astheycontributed to

Percentage of Small Satellites Launched 100% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 0 Small SatellitesLaunchedbyOrganisation-Quarter12021 0021 0221 0421 0621 0822 Q1 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Small Satellites Launched by Organisation -QuarterSmall Satellites 12021 LaunchedbyOrganisation Q1 2021-Commercial Small SatellitesLaunchedbyOrganisation Commerical Q1 2021-Academic Academic Year Government

Q1 2021-Government = 2021

h 06 Soyuz andPSLVrockets. While thesingleISSlaunchwassuccessfullycompleted bytheAntareslaunchvehicle. one launcheachinthiscategory, andtheSoyuzhadonepolarlaunch.The3SSO launcheswerebytheFalcon9, the other2withinthiscategory. TheFalcon9andElectronalsodeliveredpayloads topolarorbitthisquarter,with Of the9launchestoother LEOorbits,7ofthesewerebytheFalcon9rocket, with theElectronandLauncherOne understood tobeanumberofsmallsatellites. foam insulationwasthecauseoflosslaunch vehicle.Thepayloadslostwerenotannouncedbut The onelaunchfailurethisquartercamefromChinese companyiSpace’sHyperbolarocket,whostatedthatfalling space” yearforthecompany. capital raisedtoaccelerateplansforamedium-class launchvehiclecalledNeutron.Thiswillbeadefinite“watchthis having announcedapubliclistingthroughspecialpurpose acquisitioncompany.RocketLabishopingtousethe orbit. Thesatellitewillconductariskreductionmission. TheyearhasalreadybeenanexcitingoneforRocketLab, global launchmarket.Theirmostrecentincluded oneofRocketLab’sPhotonsatellites,thesecondtoreach Rocket Labhad2launchesthisquarterusingtheirElectron rocket,astheycontinuetomaketheirmarkonthe LAUNCH throughout theyear. Virgin Orbitisexpectedtocontinuethislaunchservice payload of10non-commercialsmallsatellitesintoorbit. released overthePacificOcean.LauncherOnedelivereda Cosmic Girl,amodifiedBoeing747-400,beforebeing 2007. Therocketwascarriedtotheupperatmosphereon LauncherOne rocket,havingbeenindevelopmentsince This quartersawVirginOrbitbeginoperationsoftheir record of845smallsatellites. quarter putstheminagoodpositiontobeattheir2020 one year(16),whiletheir623smallsatelliteslaunchedthis record forthetotalnumberofsmallsatellitelaunchesin launches seeSpaceXoverhalfwaytowardsbreakingtheir launches andnumberofsmallsatelliteslaunched.These9 dominated thecompetitionbothintermsofnumber launch vehiclecontinueditshighcadenceand of 2021,includingonefailedlaunch.SpaceX’sFalcon-9 There were17smallsatelliteslaunchedinthefirstquarter Failed Launches Launch Vehicles:NumberofLaunchesandSatellitesLaunched Successful Launches 0123456789 Hyperbola Electron Electron Falcon LauncherOne PSLV Soyuz LauncherOne Antares Electron Antares Falcon Soyuz PSLV 0 Satellites Failed fromLaunch Other ' Orbits byNumberofLaunches 0 0 0 0 0 600 500 400 300 200 100 3 3 Polar 1 ! 9 SSO Satellites Launched ISS

07 Wallops FlightFacilityinVirginiaandtheSatishDhawanSpaceCentreIndiarespectively. successful maidenlaunchfromMojaveAirandSpacePortinCalifornia,whiletheAntaresPSLVliftedoff in KazakhstanandonefromtheVostochnyCosmodromeRussia.VirginOrbit’sLauncherOnecompletedits quarter. TheSoyuzrocket’s2launcheswereatseparatesites,withoneliftingofffromtheBaikonurCosmodrome launch siteofchoicewasMahiaLaunchComplexinNewZealand,withbothElectronlaunchesliftingofftherethis located inFlorida,camesecondwith4launchesthisquarter.All9wereSpaceXFalconlaunches.RocketLab’s Cape CanaveralAirForceStationinFloridaclaimedthemostlauncheswith5,whileKennedySpaceCentre,als The imagebelowgivesavisualrepresentationofthelocationssitesfromwhichlaunchvehiclesliftedoff. Space Port Mojave Airand Wallops FlightFacility Kennedy SpaceCentre Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome Baikonur Space Centre Satish Dhawan Baikonur Cosmodrome Vostochny Cosmodrome Complex Mahia Launch o 08 1 co v a or SPACs.SPACs,alsoknown as“ The W S m s new spaceETFbyARKCEOCat s The s achieve growthsustainablyFrom N the varietyofbusinessmodelsa To R expanding andfullofopportuniti w i E co l A new economicfrontier.Privatee H w c go d 1 between theUSAandUSSR.Itg A Introduction of SPACs The Rise s ight onthepossibilitiesof CNBC(2021) ‘Investment inspacecompanies putatrecord $8.9billionin 2020despiteCovid’ olatile equitymarketsandan pace companiestakeadvantage pace-focused ExchangeTradedFund olutions areabundant. om 5 u ra e t thebeginningofspaceag nowbeingrecognised,witharec e owever, noteveryoneshareds a h l a hat isaSPAC? pecial Purpose a aising Moneyin m m

day, therearemorewaysofra v e r w s ic y r

ospace, MircorpandtheXPRIZEFo s e re hasbeenavastriseininte re hasbeenaparticularincr

ke a

e to pany onthemarkets. mercial opportunitieswithin panies. Theenvironmentforp Spacebusinessleadersmustt t resortapproachtotakea c h r t thebeginningof21stcen a n ompared tothevacuumofour theyoperated–voidandnosign t invogue–theSpecialPurpo

r ment projects,handingoutc th s. However,thepost-Apollomi e

high costandlongtimefram n

Acquisition Compan on-governmental spaceoperatio

he NewSpaceEra inc eas com nd ndea o b es e, the the r is ot hi r es business angelstoventureca easing numberofSPACe r of in . e Woo iv e inac bla or commercial offerings,there tury le ontra off to s t overthelast2yearsinwha

ak pan se g ca co ate investmentintheses this bu vours towardscommerci ak d $8.9billioninvestedin pace sector,andunlock developmentofspacetechnologywasdrivenbytheracefo sm nk e ont es ( A of . sm un an y E A pital thaneverbefore.Ho cqu check”companies,havebee cts t arapidstart,sendin asso atch b d s tivity regardingspace TF), ProcureSpace,wasl public. However,dueto dat re life. os, outlook,withindividu llish sentimenttoward his burdenofchoicewh isition CompanyorSP aw spacestockssurge freshed outlookonthe o largecommercialenti ion itisnowmoreaptl ci etween ambitionsandre ated withfundingspacem h elped toprovetheeffe xpert ns i g s 2 tart ed es (SPACs) al . 02 is no pit com The atellites intospaceandhuma t areknownasSpecialPurpos spa als y new avenuesforinvestment,ushe -up is s anu 0, w alists, corporations,orthep li e, itisbecomingamorelegit A ke the andcompanieskeepingfait aunch ev despitetheCOVID-19pandemi pr se en dec “onesizefitsall”when panies withinthepublicmark ceflight inthe‘90s,such pure C. tie space technologiesappearedak ned tosomeoftheuniverse’ iv er, effortsresultedinabuild-u n i mber ofrecentfactorsinclu s, ate investmentenvironmentint ndustry, ridingthewav arou sou thisdoesnotmeanthati withhugebarrierstoentry cti ly on ed is iding thebestavenuetotra ve r sio in 2019,whiletherecent nd fordecadesandwerehist ces sawpublicspacebudgets ness oftacticalsponsorshipand speculation.Wearenowst ns . S pace remainedaplaygroundfor it asKristlerAerospace,Beal co ni ublic e o e Acq ty tothemoonwithin im h mes toaccessingfunding. ets f the p o in t i ate ding s r te m r thep fo in s c1. Wh oth as f m uisition Companies, methodoflistinga arkets, thefinancing g intheNewSpace str in tothevacuum announcement ofa chnical dominance r vel current routeto s he spacesector low interestrates, er oflate.Thefirst omentum for ai tart-up space otential ofthis inorderto arting tosee cha ghtforward. With oric ere de racteristics – ally seenas sh crease before it ed som big

e 09 3 2 for aSPACmerger. almost anyotherindustry.Paradoxically,itisthesefeatures thatcanmakespacecompaniesanattractivecandidate industry. Spaceisalsoexpensive–Newcompanies arecapitalintensive,andtheirburnrateishigherthan go head-to-headwithotherspacestart-ups,billionaire spaceenthusiasts,andthelegacygiantsofdefence unproven, andcarryahigherriskthansimilarsizedcompanies inotherindustries.Spaceiscompetitive–companie Space is“new”–duetotheirinnovativenature,New Spacestart-upcompanies’businessmodelsareoften makes thecompaniesofNewSpaceerasuitable targetsforaSPAC? the aforementionedadvantages(fasterroutetomarket, lessscrutinyetc.).However,thequestionremainsastowhat markets? Itisstraightforwardtoseehowtheacquired spacecompanieswillbene Traditionally thespaceindustryhasbeenpublicmarket shy,sowhyareSPACsdrivingNewSpacecompaniestoth You Can’tSpellSpaceWithoutSPAC The SPAC(e)Envi any signofslowingdowneither,withabout400SPACsonthesearchfortargetcompanies. Acquisitions (M&A)dealvolume,SPACactivityrepresentsabout30%ofvolumestoday3.Thistrenddoes notshow with anaveragevalueofover$2.3billion2.Whencomparing2021’s$166billionindealstotheoverallMergers and 163, withanaverageof$965million.Withinthefirstquarter2021,therehavebeen73SPACtransactionsalready, transactions. In2019,therewere87SPACdeals,withanaveragevalueofabout$390million.2020, were Nevertheless, thishasdonelittletoaff feeling warytowardsinvestingincompanieslistedthroughSPACs. away fromcurrentbusinessperformanceresults.ThislackofscrutinycomparedtoIPOshasledsome investors the abilitytoforecastrevenuesininvestorpitchesandpubliclyhypetheirstock,whichallowsSPACsshift focus acquisition, securitiesregulatorsaffordthemafewluxuriesnotavailabletotypicalIPOcompanies.These include acquired companytogopublicinamuchshortertime.Aswellasthis,becausethedealistechnicallyan SPAC dealsbypassthisroadshowprocessasthecapitalhasalreadybeenraised,priortomerger,allowing the executives andpotentialinvestorstobuildupinterestdemandfortheirshares. which cantakesixtoninemonthscomplete.Thisinvolvesroadshowsandpitchmeetingsbetweencompany scrutiny ofitsauditedfi traditional IPO.ShouldacompanydecidetogodowntheIPOroute,itbecomessubjectregulatoryandinvestor SPAC mergersoff Benefits and Drawb deadline (typicallytwoyears),theSPACisliquidated,andinvestorswillgettheirmoneyback. through acquisitionusingthefundsraisedbySPAC’sIPO;or,iffoundersfailtoacquireacompanywithin the foundersofSPAC,alsoknownassponsors,identifyacompanyinterest,whichwillthenbetakenpublic how theircapitalwillbeused.Theraisedisthenheldinatrustuntileitheroneoftwothingshappens.Either common stock,beforeanyacquisitionhastakenplace,meaningthatinvestorsmaynothaveknowledgeon raising moneythroughanInitialPublicOff SPACs areessentiallyshellcompanieswithnocommercialoperationsandcreatedthesolepurposeof Quartz(2021)– ‘How therocket business launchedawaveofblank checkacquisitions’ Bloomberg (2021) –‘Blank-Check Mergers GrabbingEver-Bigger SliceofM&AMarket’ er severaladvantagestoprivatecompaniesthatarelookinggopubliccomparedthe nancial statements.ThecompanymustalsohireaninvestmentbanktounderwritetheIPO, ronment acks ect therecentmomentum,andwearenowseeingarapidincreaseinSPAC ering (IPO)toacquireaprivatelyheldcompany.Thisisdonebyselling fit fromaSPACdeal,byenjoying s e 10 4 that VirginOrbitisalsosearchingforaSPACtomergewith4. or areundergoingaSPACacquisition.Inadditiontothecompaniesbelow,itwasannouncedinMarchof thisyear over $10billion.Table1belowdisplaysthedetailsofcompanieswithinspaceindustrythateither underwent To date,therehavebeeneightSPACdealsannouncedtobringspacecompaniespublic,withacumulative valueo S nature ofNewSpacecompanies,whocanhopefullyusethisinjectioncashtoproducethereturnsexpected. a relativelyshorttimeperiod,seekingvisibleandnearimmediateimpact.Thiscomplementsthecapital-intensive SPACs willalsolooktoacquiretargetcompanieswhohavetheabilitydeploylargeamountoffunds raisedin themselves fromtherestofcompetitivemarket. allows companiesafastertracktogrowth,enablingthempursuecommercialoptionsthatwilldifferentiate promoting better,faster,orcheaperservices.ThefloodgateofcapitalinvestmentthataSPACmergercanopen legitimate investmentopportunities.Competitionrewardsthemostoptimalsolution,stimulatinginnovationand The increasinglycompetitivenatureofthespaceindustryisalsodoingwelltoestablishcompaniesas strike whiletheironishotandrideoncoattailsofthismarketmomentum. unusual investmentopportunity.TheacceleratedroutetomarketofferedbySPACsenablesthesecompanies capital. Spacecompaniesareexciting,andwithfewpubliclytradedcompanies,theyo technologies, evenearlyintheirlifecycleandwhoarenormallyconsideredtoohighrisk,abetterchanceofraising today’s investorshavinganunusualcravingforriskybets.Thisallowscompanieswithinnovativeanddisruptive We haverecentlywitnessedashiftininvestmentawayfromvalueandtowardsgrowthopportunities,with Bloomberg (2021)–‘Richard BransonTargets New SpaceSPAC to Take Virgin OrbitPublic’ *Valuation attimeofacquisitionannouncement. pace Companies Acquired byS P ACs

ffer investorsarelatively f 11 damaging shareholdervalueifmilestonesaremissed. generate tomeetthesevaluationshavepromptedsomecommentsofapotentialbubble,aswellthedanger of Before Interest,Taxes,Depreciation,andAmortization)of$1billion5.Therevenuesthatthecompanieswill haveto of $227million,andASTSpaceMobilehasa$1.8billionvaluationat1.8timestheir2024expectedEBITDA (Earning 2025 expectedrevenueof$749million.Spirehasa$1.2billionvaluation,at5.4timestheir2023 revenue As wellasthis,therehavebeenconcernsaboutvaluations.RocketLabhasa$4.1billionvaluation,at5.4 timesthe be appropriatewhenacompanybecomespubliclytraded. they cangopublic,whilesomecontractsareawardedundersmallcompanyqualificationprogrammesthat mayno Companies whoworkwithclassifiedorsensitivetechnologieswillhavetobere-vettedbythegovernment before government contractingprogramsarenotreadilyadaptabletothecompanygoingpublicinashorttime period. Issues withgovernmentcontractsmayalsoupsettheprocessforpotentialSPACtargetcompanies.Someof foreign ownershipconcernssurroundingthecompany. interfered withtheattempttogopublic.TheresignationcameinresponseUSgovernmentnationalsecurityand CEO andfounderresignedinearly2021afteraninvestigationintohisaccesstorestrictedspacetechnology Following theirannouncementofintentionstobecomeapubliclytradedcompanyviaSPACin2020,theMomentus than desired. regulated companiesfindsuccessinthepublicmarkets,processcantaketimeandexperiencemoreturbulence gone assmoothlyinitiallyhoped.Spacecompaniesoperateinahighlyregulatedenvironment,andwhilemany Despite theapparentbenefitsofSPACsintermsofferinga“simple”routetomarket,notallthesedealshave Not AllSmoothSailing t s 12 space industrywillberevealed. Either way,itfeelslikethestartofadefiningperiodforNewSpace,andwhendustsettles,newtitans technology, unlockthewidelytoutedtrillion-dollarspaceindustry?Oristhisbeginningofadot-com-likebubble? Will anexplosioninpublicmarketinterest,alongwiththecontinueddeclininglaunchcostsandadvances attempting tosatiateit. to makereturnsontheirinvestments.Aslongasthereisanappetite,willbenoshortageofcompanies is thenatureofmarkets.However,whatclearthatinvestorsarehungryfornewandexcitingopportunities way. Someofthesewillfailtoreachmetaphorical(orsometimesliteral)orbit,whileothersgointerstellar.Such the finishline,andcompanieswillhavetotakekeystepsrealizelevelsofgrowthexpected,inasustainable It istooearlytopredictthesuccessoftheseSPACsandanyothersthatmayfollow.Achievingapubliclistingno CONCLUSION 9 8 https://www.rocketlabusa.com/about-us/updates/rocket-lab-debuts-fully-autonomous-flight-termination-system/ https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/30/21407389/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launch-polar-orbit-cape-canaveral-florida t

13 team andwewillmaketheamendments. the email kindly reports, our to suggestions or case. If any reader would like to contribute edits the be always not might this that recognise we to provide accurate and up to date information, made been has effort every whilst Disclaimer: implied, astoitsaccuracyorcompleteness. make norepresentations,warrantiesorguarantees,whetherexpress or date, ithasbeenprovidedforgeneralinformationonlyandassuch we Whilst we strive to ensure that the information is correct and up to us with:‘Copyright©SatelliteApplicationsCatapultLimited2020’. document providedthatsuchreproductionsareproperlyattributed to All rightsarereserved.Youmayreusereasonableportionsof this Copyright ©SatelliteApplicationsCatapultLimited2020 W: T: E: us at: contact can You include. to value of that be would points data other on feedback welcome share to source data We use. and access to easy is that information free a as designed is report Intelligence Market Satellite Small The Contact sa.catapult.org.uk/small-sats-market-intel +44 (0)1235567999 [email protected]

Q1 2021014