Voyager Technologies Boosts Lunar Ambition With Astrobotic Tech Deal

Voyager Technologies’ appetite for acquisitions is showing little sign of being sated, with the company disclosing the purchase of Astrobotic Technology to burnish its lunar exploration capabilities.

The purchase of the space robotics company comes as NASA is ramping up its Moon ambitions. Astrobotic plans to launch its Griffin-1 commercial lunar lander mission this year under a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract. NASA, as part of this year’s revamp of the Artemis program, has disclosed plans for more commercial lunar landing missions.

Voyager, which disclosed the transaction June 2, said it would have an enterprise value of up to $300 million, with an initial cash payment of $162 million when the deal closes, accounting for debt assumption and earnout potential. The company aims to close the deal early next month.

“This acquisition accelerates Voyager’s path to becoming a fully integrated lunar infrastructure company at precisely the time government and commercial investment in the Moon is accelerating,” Voyager CEO Dylan Taylor said on an investor call.

“Astrobotic immediately expands our capabilities across some of the most critical elements of the lunar economy, including delivery, mobility, power systems, and precision landing technologies,” he added. Billions of dollars are set to be spent on lunar ambitions in the coming years, he noted.

Voyager has been on an acquisition spree as it tries to rapidly gain scale and secure a growing share of the commercial and military defense market. The company in February announced an investment in habitat company Max Space. Last year it disclosed the purchase of BridgeComm Technologies, an optical link specialist, shortly after saying it acquired software developer ElectroMagnetic Systems, which specializes in automatic target recognition tools for space-based radar systems.

Astrobotic Technology, it said, would provide flight heritage and quick access to landers, rovers, power and precision landing technology. The deal, Voyager said, would fill gaps in its technology portfolio in areas such as landers, rovers and hoppers, while augmenting its own in-situ resource utilization capabilities.

“Astrobotic brings substantial growth opportunities with essentially no overlap to Voyager’s existing capabilities,” Taylor said.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic said its programs would gain scale through Voyager’s planned investments. The company—though primarily known for its lunar activities—is also working on reusable rockets.

Voyager sees the acquired business yielding $100-300 million in additional revenue next year, Chief Financial Officer Phil De Sousa said on the call.