Momentus Inc (MNTS.US) is a U.S. based company in an industry known as 'new space' that is in the process of developing transportation service offerings around and beyond Earth's orbit. The company located in Silicon Valley (San Jose) announced the successful testing of solar panel arrays, whose placement in space, on the Vigoride spacecraft, will be a key component of a second demonstration mission. The mission is scheduled with SpaceX, for December of this year, as part of Transporter 6.
- In the past, the company has been referred to as 'space DHL' due to the specifications of its flagship Vigoride vehicles, which are designed to reduce the cost of sending goods and cargo into space and provide in-service in space. The Vigoride vehicles are expected to be able to overcome the resistance of gravity and maneuver in space thanks to a revolutionary propulsion system based on water plasma. Much depends on the December mission because a previous Vigoride launch in the summer failed for technical reasons and exacerbated the discount on the company's already powerfully oversold stock;
- Momentus began a test campaign immediately after the failed previous mission, which included functional, environmental and performance tests for all subsystem components and the vehicle-integrated solar arrays on the Vigoride orbital service vehicle. The solar panels are designed to roll out of the Vigoride vehicle shortly after it separates from SpaceX's launch vehicle. Their task will be to track the Sun throughout the mission and generate power;
The target Momentus transport fleet is expected to include vehicles of varying specifications; to date, the company is still developing the first and most important at this stage, Vigoride. The ships are also ultimately expected to take part in possible lunar exploration and perhaps the transport of space-based raw materials like titanium or helium-3 isotope to Earth. In addition, there is increasing talk of building a fleet to enable space exploration already beyond Earth in order to minimize the cost of overcoming atmospheric resistance and carrying materials into space. If Momentus were able to deliver the above vehicles, and the described water propulsion would allow them to maneuver freely while drawing energy from the Sun, it would be reasonable to expect a jump in the company's value. Source: Momentus
"We are excited about our next launch of the Vigoride vehicle scheduled for December and the innovative customer payloads it will carry (...) We have expanded our solar array test campaign to ensure that this mission-critical system will work as intended (...) The Momentus team worked closely with our solar array supplier, who supported our test campaign, to prepare for our next flight. During our first Vigoride demonstration mission in May, we experienced problems with a pin in the mounting bracket not releasing. This extended test campaign is designed to prevent similar problems in the future." commented on the company's CEO, John Rood and former undersecretary of the Department of Defense and vice chairman of defense concerns Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Rood has in the past held senior positions in the US Security Council, including as special assistant to the president and CIA analyst, where his job was to monitor foreign missile programs. Among other things, Rood was responsible for implementing the National Defense Strategy (NDS). In 2020, he left the Trump administration to become CEO of Momentus.
- The US focuses on the Artemis mission, which could begin the process of exploiting and militarizing the Moon later this decade. China has an equivalent space program. It appears that Momentus may have enough influence to take part in a string of lunar missions although it still seems a long way off until the company proves the actual capabilities of the vehicles under development;
- Vigoride's task will be to carry the payload for Caltech's first solar power demonstration and deploy a satellite for the Qosmosys frmy, tasked with exploring the solar system, in the spirit of NASA's Voyager mission. Very importantly, Momentus also intends to test the Microwave Electrothermal Thrustel, still being perfected by the company's scientists, which uses water to maneuver and overcome resistance in space. The Vigoride vehicle has been specially modified to increase payload capacity and reduce launch loads passed on to Momentus customers.
Momentus shares (MNTS.US), H1 interval. The share price is under downward pressure, and it seems that as long as the price does not permanently exceed the SMA 200 level, in the vicinity of $1.5, it is hard to talk about a trend reversal. The company's market capitalization is below $100 million, the price-to-book value ratio is healthy, oscillating around 1.1 points. The company's debt is relatively small, the debt to equity ratio is 0.32, which means that there is $0.32 of debt per $1 of company assets. Source: xStation5
