Momentus Settles Class Action Lawsuit for $8.5M, Updates Vigoride Schedule 

An image showing the view from Vigoride-5 as it passes over a ground station in Antarctica. Photo: Momentus

Momentus settled a class action lawsuit against certain of its current and former directors and former officers, the company announced Thursday. 

Momentus and the lead plaintiff reached an agreement in February to settle for payment of $8.5 million, at least $4 million of which is expected to be funded by insurance proceeds. The case is in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, captioned “In Re Stable Road Acquisition Corp. Securities Litigation, Master File No. 2:21-cv-05744,” and the settlement must be approved by the court. 

Momentus also has a share repurchase agreement for a final payment to the two founders of the company of $10 million. Its founding CEO Mikhail Kokorich and co-founder Lev Khasis resigned from the company in January 2021 amid the company’s efforts to go public, due to regulatory concerns with their status as Russian citizens. The founders were paid $40 million in the divestment, and the company has the $10 million payment left. 

Momentus also announced a $10 million investment from an institutional investor to provide the capital to meet the share repurchase obligations. 

The company had a turbulent path to going public dealing with U.S. national security concerns with the business. In 2021, Momentus signed a National Security Agreement (NSA) with the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of the Treasury on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). 

CEO John Rood commented that Momentus is “closing this chapter” with the settlement and share repurchase. 

“Retirement of these issues clears the way for Momentus to continue progress on its vision to provide backbone infrastructure services for the growing space economy. We’re eager to support customers in the commercial sector and civil and military government users like NASA and the U.S. Defense Department to use space in more dynamic and impactful ways,” said CEO  Rood. 

Momentus also shared an update that it is continuing to commission the Vigoride-5 orbital service vehicle launched in January. The solar arrays are fully deployed and generating power within nominal ranges. Both uplink and downlink communications with the vehicle are healthy. In the coming weeks, Momentus will test the vehicle’s innovative Microwave Electrothermal Thruster (MET). 

In addition, Momentus updated its 2023 launch schedule and will fly three Vigoride OSVs in 2023 on the SpaceX Transporter-6, 7, and 9 missions. Vigoride-6 is next scheduled for launch on the Transporter-7 mission, targeted for April 2023.