Rocket Lab to acquire Planetary Systems Corporation in a cash and stock deal

Rocket labs acquire Planetary Systems Corporations in a deal for $42 million and more than 1,700,000 shares.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Planetary Systems Corporation (PSC), a Maryland-based spacecraft separation systems company, for $42 million in cash and 1,720,841 shares of Rocket Lab’s common stock, plus the potential for an additional 956,023 shares of common stock for a permanent earn-out based PSC’s CY 2022 and 2023 financial results. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Rocket Lab has acquired with the $750 million funding it raised through its NASDAQ listing. The deal comes as Rocket Lab continues to pursue its goal of becoming not simply another launch provider but a fully integrated space services company, offering everything from transportation to orbit to the spacecraft themselves. Rocket Lab said in a statement that it would use the product hardware across its Space Systems division.

This marks Rocket Lab’s third acquisition in around 18 months. Last month only the company announced it had acquired Advance solutions, Inc., a Colorado-based company that develops flight software for spacecraft. Rocket Lab also received Sinclair Interplanetary last year, a manufacturer of space hardware.