Terran Orbital receives key payment from Rivada Space, adjusts year-end cash balance

Terran Orbital has updated its anticipated financial results for the year’s end after the company received a long-awaited payment from its largest customer, Rivada Space Networks.

The news, announced today, confirms earlier reports from TechCrunch that Terran CEO Marc Bell was expecting at least some payment from Rivada before the close of the year.

Rivada, a German subsidiary of U.S.-based Rivada Networks, has ambitious plans to build a megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. The company contracted Terran to build 300 satellites at a total anticipated cost of $2.4 billion. The contract is Terran’s largest by far, representing the vast bulk of the company’s backlog.

While Terran did not disclose the exact payment amount, the company did say that Rivada is now up-to-date on all outstanding invoices. Terran added that it expects to receive additional incremental payments this year and that it is on track to deliver satellites in 2025 and 2026.

As a result of the payment, Terran adjusted its anticipated year-end cash balance from $38.7 million as of the end of September to an excess of $70 million by the end of December. On the whole, it’s great news for Terran Orbital, which has seen its stock crater since making its public market debut at $10.96 per share. But an incremental payment from its largest customer will no doubt help shore investor confidence as the company moves into a new year.

Terran Orbital, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LLAP, saw a slight bump in its stock price from the news, moving from $1.14 as of previous close to $1.26 as of publication time.