{"id":17685,"date":"2020-06-12T23:34:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/japanese-firms-finish-acquisition-of-spaceflight-with-blacksky-satellite-venture-going-its-own-way\/"},"modified":"2020-06-12T23:34:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:34:17","slug":"japanese-firms-finish-acquisition-of-spaceflight-with-blacksky-satellite-venture-going-its-own-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/japanese-firms-finish-acquisition-of-spaceflight-with-blacksky-satellite-venture-going-its-own-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese firms finish acquisition of Spaceflight, with BlackSky satellite venture going its own way"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_533149\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-533149\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-533149\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191114-spaceflight1-630x379.jpg\" alt=\"Spaceflight SSO-A launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"379\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191114-spaceflight1-630x379.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191114-spaceflight1.jpg 761w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-533149\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Spaceflight\u2019s most notable projects was the launch of 64 satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December 2018. (SpaceX Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Japan\u2019s Mitsui &amp; Co., working in partnership with Yamasa Co. Ltd., has completed the acquisition of Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. from its parent company, Spaceflight Industries.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s announcement of the transaction\u2019s completion follows up on February\u2019s announcement of the sale for an undisclosed amount. Spaceflight Industries\u2019 other subsidiary, BlackSky Global, isn\u2019t part of the transaction and will continue to operate as a privately held company with offices in Seattle and Herndon, Va.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Mitsui and Yamasa will similarly split ownership of Spaceflight Inc. as a 50-50 joint venture, operating independently with its headquarters remaining in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe funds secured through this transaction will be reinvested in BlackSky to capitalize on what we see is an expanding market opportunity in global monitoring,\u201d Brian O\u2019Toole, president of Spaceflight Industries and CEO of BlackSky, said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Satellite Insights - Brian O'Toole, BlackSky\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z5KUJKyAdh4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Spaceflight\u2019s CEO and president, Curt Blake, also heralded the opportunities ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe completion of this deal is an exciting step for Spaceflight,\u201d Blake said in a news release. \u201cJoining the high-growth Mitsui &amp; Co. portfolio positions Spaceflight to deliver and expand on the comprehensive launch services we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur biggest priority, as always, is ensuring all our customers are fully supported through this transition and we\u2019re taking the necessary steps to establish infrastructure to meet their needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Spaceflight Inc. is the first space venture acquired by Mitsui, one of Japan\u2019s largest conglomerates. Mitsui\u2019s properties include food and beverage companies, banking and insurance firms, mining companies and heavy industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceflight has contributed significantly to the space industry, pushing boundaries and achieving great success making rideshare a credible and reliable option for smallsat launches,\u201d said Tomohiro Musha, a general manager in Mitsui\u2019s transportation and machinery business unit. \u201cThe acquisition of this industry leader will allow us to expand our business in exciting new ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spaceflight's Blake on Strategy, Launch Services, Small Spacecraft &amp; Space Resilience\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CK_5QVMSN2A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One of Spaceflight Inc.\u2019s steady customers has been BlackSky. Launch arrangements for the first four satellites in BlackSky\u2019s Global constellation were all made through Spaceflight, working with the Indian Space Research Organization, SpaceX and Rocket Lab.<\/p>\n<p>During an interview last month, O\u2019Toole told GeekWire that there\u2019ll be more emphasis on the BlackSky brand and less emphasis on the Spaceflight Industries brand going forward. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a little transition period there, but you\u2019ll primarily be hearing about BlackSky, and we\u2019re not going to get into another complex kind of holding-company messaging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Between the time that the acquisition was announced and finalized, the deal had to pass review by the federal government\u2019s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The committee signed off on the terms of the deal in April.<\/p>\n<p>Finalizing the deal was also dependent on Intelsat working out a complex arrangement for distributing the proceeds from Spaceflight Inc.\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>Although they\u2019re 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\u2019s SSLV rocket later this year.<\/p>\n<p>But the two companies are also free to go their own way. Two BlackSky satellites are scheduled to go into orbit courtesy of SpaceX \u2014 which now has its own rideshare launch program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of Spaceflight\u2019s most notable projects was the launch of 64 satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December 2018. (SpaceX Photo) Japan\u2019s Mitsui &amp; Co., working in partnership with Yamasa Co. Ltd., has completed the acquisition of Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. from its parent company, Spaceflight Industries. Today\u2019s announcement of the transaction\u2019s completion follows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[404,2128,2339,20,442,2340,2341],"class_list":["post-17685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blacksky","tag-blacksky-global","tag-mitsui","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-spaceflight","tag-spaceflight-industries"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}