WASHINGTON — Voyager Technologies will acquire Astrobotic, a company developing lunar landers and reusable suborbital vehicles, in a deal worth up to $300 million.
The companies announced early June 2 that they had reached an agreement under which Voyager will acquire Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic as part of Voyager’s efforts to develop lunar infrastructure.
Voyager will spend $162 million in cash and stock for Astrobotic, along with assuming $9 million in debt. The deal includes up to an additional $129 million in earnout payments contingent on meeting performance milestones. The transaction is expected to close in July, pending regulatory approvals.
Astrobotic is best known for developing lunar landers. Its first lander, Peregrine, launched in January 2024 on the first mission of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, program. However, the spacecraft suffered a propulsion malfunction hours after launch that ruled out a lunar landing, and the spacecraft instead flew through cislunar space for a week and a half before reentering.
The company is wrapping up development of a larger lander, Griffin. It is scheduled to launch later this year carrying Astrolab’s FLIP rover after NASA dropped plans in 2024 to use it for its VIPER rover. NASA, though, is still funding the mission through the CLPS program and, at a May 26 briefing, designated the mission “Moon Base 2.”
Voyager sees Astrobotic as part of a “strategic lunar initiative” the company announced earlier this year, capitalizing on NASA’s efforts to accelerate the Artemis program and develop a moon base. That included an investment in Max Space, a company developing expandable habitats, to use that technology on the moon.
“We are building the infrastructure foundation that will make America’s permanent presence on the moon a reality,” Dylan Taylor, chief executive of Voyager, said in a statement. “With Astrobotic, Voyager is now a lunar platform that will have capability at every infrastructure layer needed to put Americans on the lunar surface and keep them there.”
Voyager said Astrobotic will continue to operate out of its Pittsburgh facility, which will serve as the center of Voyager’s overall lunar program. Astrobotic has largely bootstrapped its growth and has not raised large venture-backed rounds, in contrast to many other space companies.
“Astrobotic was built to prove that commercial companies can deliver to the moon,” John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said in a statement. “Joining Voyager gives that mission the scale and long-term commitment it has been building toward for nearly two decades.”
Astrobotic’s work has extended beyond lunar landers. The company has been working on LunaGrid, a system for producing and distributing power for a lunar base, as well as advanced rocket engines. It also has reusable suborbital vehicles using technologies acquired from the former Masten Space Systems. Astrobotic said in December it won NASA and Space Force contracts for new suborbital vehicles.
Voyager indicated those programs would continue after the acquisition.
“Voyager intends to accelerate investment to scale Astrobotic’s lunar and reusable rocket programs in support of America’s Moon Base plans,” the company stated.
