Anika Begay
Lockheed Martin is acquiring satellite maker Terran Orbital, taking the smaller company private and potentially saving it from the risk of running out of cash due to a large debt burden.
Although Terran Orbital wasn’t founded until 2013, its history dates back to the late 1990s, with the development of the CubeSat, which became the flagship of a new wave of small satellites. Most recently, the company went public with a SPAC merger in 2022, at a valuation of $1.8 billion.
The two companies already had a relationship, with Lockheed Martin Ventures having made several investments in Terran Orbital, starting in 2017. In fact, Lockheed already owned a 28.3% stake in Terran Orbital, while Lockheed contracts represent approximately 70% of Terran Orbital’s revenues and 91% of its backlog.
So Lockheed certainly had some incentive to save the satellite maker from bankruptcy. It even tried to acquire Terran Orbital earlier this year, but the smaller company used a “poison pill” to thwart the deal at the time.
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