An RS1 rocket booster passes acceptance tests.
ABL Space
Rocket builder ABL Space signed a long-term contract for several launches with Lockheed Martin, agreeing to supply the defense giant with up to 58 rockets by the end of the decade.
Lockheed Martin will buy up to 26 GLA RS1 rockets by 2025, with an option for up to 32 additional launches by 2029, ABL announced on Monday.
“Having this guaranteed access to space will accelerate our ability to demonstrate the spacecraft and associated payload technologies that we are developing to meet our customers’ future mission needs,” said Lockheed Martin Space Executive Vice President, Rick Ambrose, in a press release.
ABL’s RS1 rocket fits in the middle of the launch market, between Rocket Lab’s small Electron and SpaceX’s large Falcon 9 vehicle. The RS1 is almost 30 meters high and was designed to launch up to 1,350 kg (almost 1 ½ tons) of payload in low Earth orbit.
Lockheed Martin’s risk arm is one of ABL’s first investors, with the company having raised about $ 220 million in private equity so far – most of which came in a round of T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Management in the month spent on a $ 1.3 billion valuation.
ABL declined to comment on the financial terms of the contract. Based on the $ 12 million GLA price for an RS1 rocket, the deal with Lockheed Martin is estimated to be around $ 700 million in eight years, assuming the maximum number of launches.
A second RS1 stage fully integrated in a test shot at Edwards Air Force Base in 2020.
ABL Space
Notably, since ABL rockets use a mobile terrestrial system called GS0, which can be packaged in some containers, Lockheed Martin can use a variety of launch facilities around the world – including the US Space Force facilities at Vandenberg on California and Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Although the defense giant did not specify which missions it plans to launch with ABL rockets, Lockheed Martin previously announced in February that it selected ABL to launch a Scottish mission in 2022. In addition, Lockheed Martin signed a partnership last month strategic with the start-up of satellite -up Omnispace, with the latter company planning to launch a constellation of satellites to build a 5G communications network in space.
The large contract represents a blow to ABL in the mid-sized segment of the launch market, where the company competes with Virgin Bbiton by Richard Branson, which reached orbit a few months ago.
Other competitors in this arena include Relativity Space and Firefly Aerospace, which are due to be launched for the first time later this year. Meanwhile, Rocket Lab is developing a medium-lift rocket called Neutron that it hopes to launch in 2024.
GLA continues to work for its inaugural Vandenberg RS1 launch.
Although ABL already expected to be ready for launch in March, President Dan Piemont said the company now wants to “be ready to fly by June”. The rocket builder recently completed acceptance tests for the first RS1 fuel tank, but Piemont said ABL expects launch site regulatory approvals to delay its first launch attempt for the third quarter of this year.