Sierra Space CEO talks IPO plans, satellite launch and Dream Chaser

A render of Sierra Space’s Velocity satellite bus

Credit: Sierra Space

Amid preparations for its spaceplane’s maiden flight and an initial public offering as soon as next 12 months, Sierra Space is expanding its satellite offerings.  

Ahead of the much-anticipated solar eclipse, the industrial space unicorn unveiled its aptly named Eclipse line of satellite buses — the most important structures of satellites — to serve a wide selection of missions in orbits ranging for low Earth to cis-lunar. 

“We have actually been waiting for six months, so it’s like, this [name], we actually considered it,” Tom Vice, Sierra Space chief executive said in an interview for CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast. “I believe the name may be very appropriate, because I believe it is going to change every little thing when it comes to the affordability of constructing the following generation buses for the following generation satellites.”

Valued at $5.3 billion as of September, Sierra Space was spun out of defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation three years ago. Touting a three-decade spaceflight heritage, the independent subsidiary is the results of an ambitious early bet by SNC’s billionaire husband and wife team, Fatih and Eren Ozmen. 

Sierra Space touts a various space and defense tech portfolio spanning space transportation, space habitation, propulsion and satellites. It’s perhaps best known for its NASA-contracted, reusable spaceplane Dream Chaser which is able to run cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station and eventually carry humans to and from orbit.

It is also working on a industrial space station with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin called Orbital Reef, and in January landed a $740 million high-profile Pentagon contract to develop a constellation of missile tracking satellites for the U.S. 

The Eclipse offerings bring it further into the spacecraft subsystem business.

On Dream Chaser, Vice said he’s “very confident” it is going to make its first flight within the fourth quarter of this 12 months. He added the spaceplane passed the primary phase of environmental testing in March and said since it is going to be carrying cargo to the ISS on this primary demonstration, the corporate depends on NASA’s manifest and it’s working with the FAA to get a reentry license.

Artist’s rendering of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane on this undated handout obtained March 25, 2022.

Sierra Space | via Reuters

“Dream Chaser can be a vehicle that may spend a 12 months on orbit and be an orbiting space station for microgravity research,” Vice said, talking to the opportunities for R&D and manufacturing that he and the corporate are betting will materialize in low earth orbit, providing business cases for the space plane in addition to its space habitats.

Sierra Space has identified 4 segments it believes may be served by microgravity to disrupt industry on earth: stem cells, oncology, vaccines and industrial glass. Those markets combined amounted to $900 billion in 2022, in line with Vice, and are growing at such a rate to succeed in roughly $3.7 trillion by 2038. 

“You may do some things which are radically different when it comes to protein crystallization that we all know actually will produce higher drugs. So we predict actually it is a huge marketplace for us,” he said. 

Sierra’s nearer-term focus is on finalizing a Series B funding round to boost capital for potential acquisitions, on getting Dream Chaser flying, and on getting its financials in a powerful position ahead off a possible IPO as soon as next 12 months. 

“We’ll start to take a look at that as an option and make the choice depending on what the markets seem like,” said Vice. “But I believe we’re in a short time becoming an organization that has been capable of exhibit significant top line growth.”

Sierra’s sales are expected to double in 2024, in line with Vice. Its backlog currently tops $4 billion, and it’s working to change into money flow positive. 

After significant layoffs in November, Sierra Space also plans to double its workforce this 12 months. 

While it has received offers to go public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, the plan is to embark on a standard IPO process.

“We’re an organization that thinks rather a lot about ushering in essentially the most profound industrial revolution in human history,” explained Vice.