Vector Launch, Inc. (formerly Vector Space Systems) is an American
space technology
Space technology is technology for use in outer space, in travel (''astronautics'') or other activities beyond Earth's atmosphere, for purposes such as spaceflight, space exploration, and Earth observation. Space technology includes space vehicles ...
company which aims to launch suborbital and orbital payloads. Vector Launch declared bankruptcy in December 2019
and re-emerged in October 2020.
History
The company's first CEO was
Jim Cantrell
Jim Cantrell is an American entrepreneur, mechanical engineer and road racer. He is the CEO and co-founder of Phantom Space Corporation, which seeks to build space transportation technology. After working at the French Space Agency CNES (Centre N ...
,
who co-founded the company with John Garvey, Shaun Coleman, Ken Sunshine, and Eric Besnard.
Cantrell had previously helped
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
found
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
in 2001.
Vector Launch, Inc. received in seed angel funding from entrepreneur Shaun Coleman soon after its foundation in 2016 and additionally million from
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
,
Shasta Ventures
Shasta Ventures is an early-stage venture capital investment firm located in Silicon Valley that invests in enterprise and technology consumer startups. It is located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.
Funds
Shasta's second fund of US$250 milli ...
and
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focusing on multi-stage investments in the enterprise, consumer, and health sectors. Lightspeed invests in seed, early and growth-stage companies.
The company invests in the U.S. and a ...
in June 2017.
It had offices in
Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
, and an engineering facility in
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...
. In July 2016, Vector acquired Garvey Spacecraft, and began designing rockets based on Garvey's designs.
The company was also investing in software capabilities. It had a platform called Galactic Sky, located in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
, which was developing software-defined satellites to provide start-ups and entrepreneurs with satellite capabilities.
In 2017, Cantrell signed a letter of intent to collaborate with his son's cryptocurrency company, called Nexus, that was attempting to develop a satellite-supported currency exchange system. In 2016 York Space Systems signed a $60 million launch deal with Vector, to launch six satellites into orbit, which was never funded.
By August 2016, Vector had tested hardware in suborbital flight with the launch of its P-20 prototype rocket, as well as atmospheric
test flights of the Vector-R from the
Mojave Air and Space Port
The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of . It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a sp ...
in California and
Spaceport Camden
Spaceport Camden is a licensed spaceport in Camden County, Georgia, near the city of Woodbine. The site tested the largest solid rocket motor ever fired as part of the Apollo Program and Camden County, Georgia was originally considered as a NA ...
in Georgia.
By 2017, Vector had announced that it planned to use the
LC-46 launch site in Florida for its
Vector-R rocket starting in 2018,
but did not achieve that target date. Additionally Vector was investigating adding more minimal infrastructure launch pads either located on land in the USA using mobile
semi-trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer.
A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a tracto ...
s as
tank truck
A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also design ...
s and a
transporter erector launcher
A transporter erector launcher (TEL) is a missile vehicle with an integrated tractor unit that can carry, elevate to firing position and launch one or more missiles.
History
Such vehicles exist for both surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-su ...
(TEL), or to launch the rocket from barges on the ocean.
By February 2018, the company was planning to launch the first orbital flight of the Vector-R in July 2018 from the
Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska
The Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska (PSCA), formerly known as the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), is a dual-use commercial and military spaceport for sub-orbital and orbital launch vehicles. The facility is owned and operated by the Alaska ...
. , the first launch of the Vector-H was expected to occur in 2019.
On August 7, 2019, the company was awarded its first
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
mission, to launch the ASLON-45 spacecraft for $3.4 million.
However, the contract was cancelled when the US Air Force determined Vector did not meet minimum requirements for solvency.
On August 9, 2019, Cantrell left Vector Launch and John Garvey assumed the role of CEO. The future of the company was left uncertain as it reportedly faced serious financial problems.
Bankruptcy
On December 13, 2019, Vector Launch Inc. and one affiliated company filed
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
in the
United States District Court for the District of Delaware
The United States District Court for the District of Delaware (in case citations, D. Del.) is the Federal district court having jurisdiction over the entire state of Delaware. The Court sits in Wilmington. Currently, four district judges and fi ...
. It was revealed that the August layoffs had been precipitated by the withdrawal of financial support by
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
, one of the company's largest investors, which led other potential investors to back out of an upcoming funding round in a domino effect. Vector has filed a motion with the court for approval to sell its assets pursuant to Section 363 of the US bankruptcy code (a provision that allows for the orderly sale of assets from a bankrupt estate). The
stalking horse bidder A stalking horse offer, agreement, or bid is a bid for a bankrupt firm or its assets that is arranged in advance of an auction to act as an effective reserve bid. The intent is to maximize the value of its assets or avoid low bids, as part of (or be ...
is
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
.
Lockheed Martin acquired Vector's GalacticSky assets by default after a bankruptcy court received no qualified bids. Another bidder acquired the remaining launch vehicle assets.
On October 29, 2020, Vector re-emerged with a new CEO to focus the company on suborbital and orbital flight.
Post-bankruptcy
On October 29, 2020,
Robert Spalding
Robert S. Spalding III (born 1966) is a retired United States Air Force brigadier general. He currently serves as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. His work focuses on U.S.–China relations, economic and national security, and the Asia-P ...
announced that Vector Launch is "focused on suborbital, and eventually orbital flight" and is targeting both the governmental and commercial sectors.
On January 11, 2021, Vector's remaining shareholders unanimously voted on a wind down plan.
Services
Launchers
The company plans to provide launch services with two rockets, the smaller
Vector-R, and the larger
Vector-H. Both rockets use a single engine for their second stage and a cluster of engines (three in the Vector-R and six in the Vector-H) for their first stage, all of which use
LOX
Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an appli ...
and
propylene
Propylene, also known as propene, is an unsaturated organic compound with the chemical formula CH3CH=CH2. It has one double bond, and is the second simplest member of the alkene class of hydrocarbons. It is a colorless gas with a faint petrole ...
as propellants.
Vector planned to recover the first stage of its rockets for reuse.
Other notable design features include a
carbon fiber
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
structure, some
3D printed
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
engine parts, minimal infrastructure launch pads, and a fast launch cadence, which the company had hoped to reach 100 launches per year.
The first client of Vector was
Iceye, a company in Finland.
GalacticSky
Vector developed a patented
software-defined satellite operating system called GalacticSky so that its planned micro-satellites can run different applications. Managed by Vector's initial investor and co-founder Shaun Coleman GalacticSky was intended to allow customers to quickly test software applications for satellites without having to develop their own hardware.
Following a lawsuit filed by Vector against Lockheed Martin for violating GalacticSky patents
and Vector's bankruptcy, Lockheed Martin expressed interest in acquiring GalacticSky for $2.5 million, assuming no higher bidder appears.
Several members of the former GalacticSky team including the primary author of many of its patents
and a Vector co-founder, chief sales/marketing officer and SVP/general manager of GalacticSky, Shaun Coleman,
former GalacticSky VP of engineering John Metzger, former Vector chief revenue officer, and Lockheed VP of Advanced programs Robert Cleave have since founded NewSpace Networks, a company focused on extending the cloud and making satellite networks more efficient. NewSpace Networks intends to bid for the GalacticSky assets against Lockheed Martin.
See also
*
*
*
*
*
bluShift Aerospace
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://vector-launch.com/
Aerospace companies of the United States
Commercial launch service providers
Defunct spaceflight companies
Companies based in Tucson, Arizona
Technology companies established in 2016
2016 establishments in Arizona
American companies established in 2016
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019