A rendering of Momentus’ Vigoride in-space shuttle. Photo: Momentus

Momentus released its first-ever quarterly financials since going public on Tuesday, reporting $200,000 in revenue for the third quarter of 2021. The company is developing in-space transportation solutions including the Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle. 

The company said that revenue was recognized when a customer terminated a contract for convenience and forfeited its deposits.

Gross profits in the third quarter was $384,000, and net loss for the quarter was $5.6 million. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted EBITDA was -$15.1 million in the third quarter, which the company said was consistent with the second quarter performance, but $7.2 million worse than the third quarter last year.

The company did not provide guidance for the full year. 

Momentus began trading in August after going public through a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) merger. The company said net proceeds from the business combination totaled $175 million. Momentus incurred one-time costs of $33 million from the transaction and used another $40 million to repurchase the co-founders’ shares due to national security concerns. 

Momentus faced issues with the Russian nationality of its co-founders which led to a National Security Agreement (NSA) with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and an $8 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Chairman and CEO John Rood said on Tuesday’s investor call that the company has made significant progress implementing its NSA agreement, settling outstanding claims with SEC, and repurchasing the founders’ shares. 

Backlog stands at approximately $65 million, but it is all potential revenue because the Vigoride vehicle has not been validated in space yet. Backlog includes firm as well as optionable contracts. The company said customers generally have the right to cancel their contracts with the understanding that they will forego their deposits and other payments.

Momentus is targeting the first flight for its Vigoride OTV on Vigoride on SpaceX’s Transporter-5 mission, targeted for June of 2022, pending regulatory approval. 

Rood said the inaugural launch is a demonstration initiative that will take some customer payloads to orbit to generate a small amount of remue. 

“The primary goals of the mission are to test Vigoride on orbit, learn from any issues that we encounter, and take important steps towards establishing the viability of our initial market offering,” Rood said. “While we obviously love our first test in space to go flawlessly, in the history of space, it’s common to experience issues that you learn from and improve upon. So, we’re looking at this first opportunity with realistic expectations born from experience and eager anticipation to find and address any problems that arise.”