American space company acquires Ukrainian tech startup for $ 46 million

The American company Vast, which plans to build a private space station in Earth orbit, has acquired the rocket startup Launcher. This was reported by Forbes. The team of engineers and chief designer of Launcher are Ukrainians. The Ukrainian team of 14 developers will also be transferred to the Americans. Since February 2022, our specialists have been located in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The details of the deal were not disclosed, and the process of acquiring the Ukrainian startup lasted three months. Currently, Launcher is valued at $ 46.7 million.

Founded in 2017, Launcher immediately attracted $ 16.3 million in investments. The startup, which developed the Light class rocket and the Orbiter orbital tractor, also received $ 1.5 million in funding from the US Air Force. By the way, at the beginning of its work in Dnipro, the team had to obtain a special permit from the US State Department.

The Ukrainian startup has a number of achievements to its credit. Launcher managed to conduct the first successful tests of the E-2 rocket engine and its turbopump unit. on January 3 of this year, Ukrainian engineers launched the Orbiter, a satellite launch vehicle that delivers satellites to the desired orbits, for the first time on a SpaceX rocket. In 2023, the team plans to launch Orbiter twice more — in June and October — as part of Vast.

Orbiter flights will allow Vast to test subsystems and components of the future private space station. The construction of orbital laboratories is the main idea of Vast, which is promoted by the company’s founder, billionaire Jack McCaleb. By the way, Forbes estimates the wealth of the founder of the crypto exchange Mt. Gox and Ripple protocol at $ 2.4 billion.

McCaleb was also the first outside investor in the rocket company Firefly Aerospace, which was created by Ukrainian Maxim Polyakov. It is not known whether he remains a shareholder in Firefly after Polyakov was forced to sell all his assets to AE Industrial Partners under pressure from the US authorities.

In the future, the billionaire plans to apply for NASA 's Low Earth Orbit Commercial Development Program. Within its framework, three companies, including Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, have already received funding for the construction of space stations. They are to replace the International Space Station, which will be decommissioned by 2030.

As a reminder, McCaleb founded the Vast startup in September 2022. He promised to create a space dwelling with artificial gravity. «I have always believed in using technology to improve the human condition. In order to create homes in space, we need to develop technologies that will not have a negative impact on our planet,» the billionaire said at the time.