Japan’s Mitsui & Co., working in partnership with Yamasa Co. Ltd., has completed the acquisition of Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. from its parent company, Spaceflight Industries.
Today’s announcement of the transaction’s completion follows up on February’s announcement of the sale for an undisclosed amount. Spaceflight Industries’ other subsidiary, BlackSky Global, isn’t part of the transaction and will continue to operate as a privately held company with offices in Seattle and Herndon, Va.
Spaceflight Industries also has a 50% share in LeoStella, a satellite manufacturing company based in Tukwila, Wash. The other half of that joint venture is owned by Thales Alenia Space, a French-Italian aerospace company.
Mitsui and Yamasa will similarly split ownership of Spaceflight Inc. as a 50-50 joint venture, operating independently with its headquarters remaining in Seattle.
The sale brings a parting of the ways for Spaceflight Inc., which focuses on arranging launch services for rideshare satellites; and BlackSky, which is building a satellite constellation for Earth observation and provides geospatial data analysis tools.
“The funds secured through this transaction will be reinvested in BlackSky to capitalize on what we see is an expanding market opportunity in global monitoring,” Brian O’Toole, president of Spaceflight Industries and CEO of BlackSky, said in a news release.
Spaceflight’s CEO and president, Curt Blake, also heralded the opportunities ahead.
“The completion of this deal is an exciting step for Spaceflight,” Blake said in a news release. “Joining the high-growth Mitsui & Co. portfolio positions Spaceflight to deliver and expand on the comprehensive launch services we offer.”
Blake said Spaceflight is exploring the development of new standardized deployment systems, new digital initiatives and other programs to make access to space more affordable and flexible.
“Our biggest priority, as always, is ensuring all our customers are fully supported through this transition and we’re taking the necessary steps to establish infrastructure to meet their needs,” he said.
Spaceflight Inc. is the first space venture acquired by Mitsui, one of Japan’s largest conglomerates. Mitsui’s properties include food and beverage companies, banking and insurance firms, mining companies and heavy industry.
“Spaceflight has contributed significantly to the space industry, pushing boundaries and achieving great success making rideshare a credible and reliable option for smallsat launches,” said Tomohiro Musha, a general manager in Mitsui’s transportation and machinery business unit. “The acquisition of this industry leader will allow us to expand our business in exciting new ways.”
Over the past seven years, Spaceflight has made arrangements for 271 satellites flying on 29 launches, most notably including a 64-satellite mission that made use of a dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2018. It was also involved in setting up the launch of the Israeli-made Beresheet lunar lander on a different Falcon 9 in 2019.
One of Spaceflight Inc.’s steady customers has been BlackSky. Launch arrangements for the first four satellites in BlackSky’s Global constellation were all made through Spaceflight, working with the Indian Space Research Organization, SpaceX and Rocket Lab.
During an interview last month, O’Toole told GeekWire that there’ll be more emphasis on the BlackSky brand and less emphasis on the Spaceflight Industries brand going forward. “We’ll have a little transition period there, but you’ll primarily be hearing about BlackSky, and we’re not going to get into another complex kind of holding-company messaging,” he said.
Between the time that the acquisition was announced and finalized, the deal had to pass review by the federal government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The committee signed off on the terms of the deal in April.
Finalizing the deal was also dependent on Intelsat working out a complex arrangement for distributing the proceeds from Spaceflight Inc.’s sale. Intelsat, which is currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, provided BlackSky with $50 million in financing last November. Space Intel Report said the U.S. bankruptcy court cleared the financial arrangements this week.
Although they’re no longer owned by the same holding company, BlackSky and Spaceflight Inc. will continue to do business together. Four BlackSky satellites are due to be launched by India’s SSLV rocket later this year.
But the two companies are also free to go their own way. Two BlackSky satellites are scheduled to go into orbit courtesy of SpaceX — which now has its own rideshare launch program.
