Huntington Beach-based Rocket Lab’s first mission of 2019 is with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a division of the U.S. government that develops emerging and secretive technologies for the military.
Under the deal, the startup aerospace manufacturer plans to send skyward a 345-pound satellite for DARPA from a private orbital launch site in New Zealand.
The contract is valued at $6.5 million, according to documents from the federal government.
The launch is tentatively slated for late this month, and is the first of a dozen that Rocket Lab projects to carry out this year, according to reports.
The payload going into orbit this month is a prototype antenna that improves radio communications in small spacecraft.
The antenna, made of tissue-thin Kapton film, is packed inside the small satellite during launch, then deploys to its full size of about 7 feet in diameter when it reaches low Earth’s orbit, roughly 1,200 miles above ground.
The mission could one day help revolutionize global communications by providing a foundation for internet connectivity in space, according to Rocket Lab.
“The ability to rapidly space-qualify new technology and deploy space-based assets with confidence on short notice is a service that didn’t exist for dedicated small satellites until now,” Rocket Lab founder and Chief Executive Peter Beck said in a statement.
Last year, Rocket Lab raised $140 million in a Series E funding round, led by Australia-based Sovereign Wealth Fund, also known as Future Fund.
The funding round, which included Khosla Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, pushed its valuation past $1 billion.
It has raised $288 million to date.
In addition to New Zealand, where the company got its start, Rocket Lab plans to launch rockets from a NASA facility on the eastern shore of Virginia. Its goal is to eventually produce and launch one of its Electron rockets every week.
The plan is to serve the U.S. government customers and the private sector in smaller satellite launches.
The manufacturer, established in 2006, employs more than 220, the majority in New Zealand.
Beck, considered a founding father of New Zealand’s developing space program, expanded operations to Surf City in 2016.
Board Reshuffle
Newport Beach-based patent licensor Acacia Research Corp. has added two directors to its overhauled board.
New addition Maureen O’Connell most recently served as chief financial officer from 2007 to 2017 at New York-based Scholastic Corp. (Nasdaq: SCHL), the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books.
She served on the board of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals until last year, when it was acquired for $1.2 billion by Mallinckrodt Public Limited Co. (NYSE: MNK).
O’Connell is also an independent director at San Antonio-based marketing agency Harte Hanks Inc. (NYSE: HHS), where fellow Acacia director Alfred Tobia serves.
Katharine Wolanyk, the second board addition, is managing director of Burford Capital Ltd., a global finance and investment management firm with a market cap topping $4 billion on the London Stock Exchange.
She leads Burford’s intellectual property business and its Chicago office.
The additions bring Acacia’s board to five members.
The company’s valued at about $150 million. Its shares have fallen about 80% since 2015.
The Business Journal reported in August that senior Acacia management was ousted and all its board members resigned following a successful proxy fight waged by a pair of activist investors, Sidus Investment Management LLC and BLR Partners LP.
The board additions “brings us significantly closer to rebuilding Acacia’s board in a strategic and deliberate manner by appointing directors with relevant experience and qualifications to provide independent oversight,” said fellow board member Clifford Press.
The “opportunity to help reinvent an industry pioneer alongside Acacia’s new leadership team compelled me to accept this position,” Wolanyk said in a statement.
“Acacia has a long and established reputation for partnering with patent owners to realize value from their intellectual property,” she said.
