WASHINGTON — Redwire Space is doubling down on interest in the emerging very low Earth orbit (VLEO) satellite market by offering a second spacecraft platform from its European affiliate.
In an earnings call on May 9, Redwire announced a VLEO satellite platform called Phantom, developed by the company’s European business unit in Belgium. The Phantom is being developed for the European Space Agency’s Skimsat mission, on which Redwire is partnering with Thales Alenia Space, and is now available for European and international customers.
Phantom joins SabreSat, a VLEO satellite announced by Redwire on its previous earnings call in March, which is being developed by the company in the United States. The two designs use different technologies.
“SabreSat and Phantom do not share a common technology base. These are two different platforms with different underlying technologies and performance parameters,” Peter Canito, CEO of Redwire, said on the call. “Different approaches reduce risk and allow us to cover a wider range of customer requirements.”
The Phantom bus is designed for missions in orbits below 300 kilometers, where atmospheric drag plays a much greater role, requiring more aerodynamic structures and propulsion to maintain orbit. The Phantom can carry payloads weighing up to 50 kilograms, with a total spacecraft mass of up to 300 kilograms, according to company filings. The spacecraft uses electric propulsion to maintain its orbit for missions lasting up to five years.
Company officials told the GEOINT Symposium this week that they are seeing interest in SaberSat from U.S. government agencies interested in a platform that can offer better image resolution from operating in a lower orbit, as well as improved endurance . Cannito said on the call that the company won a survey contract for SabreSat from an undisclosed client.
“This is a very exciting indicator that the market is recognizing the potential of SabreSat as a critical capability,” he said. “We are very encouraged by the reception that SaberSat has received since our announcement and continue to pursue significant opportunities for this potentially groundbreaking VLEO spacecraft.”
He called SabreSat and Phantom a “forward opportunity” for the company to capitalize on the growing interest in VLEO systems. “We are now well ahead of the overall development of the spacecraft industry in VLEO.”
These platforms are also part of a strategy the company announced earlier this year to move up the value chain from supplier to prime contractor. “We’re bidding more as premiums than in the past,” he said.
Redwire was among nine companies that won NASA exploration contracts announced May 1 to advance concepts for commercial Mars missions to fulfill applications such as imaging and communications. Redwire’s $200,000 study is to modify a commercial Earth imaging spacecraft for use on Mars, and Canito said that will be based on the European-developed Proba spacecraft, not SabreSat or Phantom.
Redwire reported Q1 2024 revenue of $87.8 million, up 52% from the same quarter in 2023. The company had adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $4.3 million , the same as the first quarter of last year.
Cannito noted on the call that the company has now had five consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA along with revenue growth and consecutive quarters of positive cash from operations. Although the company posted a net loss for the quarter of $8.1 million, Jonathan Baliff, Redwire’s chief financial officer, said the overall results show “continued positive momentum” for the company as it moves toward profitability.
