Satellite imagery taken by Maxar Technologies on Aug. 29, 2022 shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies)
AMOS 2023 — Two big players in the space market restructured their organizations this week: federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) The Aerospace Corporation; and remote sensing industry behemoth Maxar Technologies.
Aerospace announced today that it “will be making significant changes to its organizational structure,” as of Oct. 1, combining “the Space Systems Group and its Defense Systems Group to create a unified organization” to support the FFRDC’s Defense Department customers.
“The space domain is undergoing rapid and profound change. By unifying our support to our largest customer, Aerospace will be well positioned to deliver end-to-end capabilities to outpace the threats we face in space,” said Aerospace President and CEO Steve Isakowitz.
Under the reorganization, Lara Schmidt will take over for the retiring Jay Santee, a former DoD head of space policy, as vice president of Defense Architectures and Integration, leading Aerospace’s work “on space warfighting, future space architectures, operations and integration,” according to the announcement.
Todd Nygren will head up the new Defense Space Acquisition organization, and Randy Kendall will lead the Launch, Missiles and Mobility mission support to DoD, as well as supporting the Missile Defense Agency. Jamie Morin will lead the Defense Strategic Space unit, and continue as executive director of the Center for Space Policy and Strategy.
A more dramatic change is in store for Maxar. As first reported by Space News, the company is splitting into two separate business units, following its December acquisition by private equity firm Advent International for $6.4 billion. Maxar Space Infrastructure will be responsible for the firm’s manufacturing operations, and will be headed by Chris Johnson. Maxar Intelligence will take over the remote sensing activities, and will be run by Dan Jablonsky, who has been serving as CEO of Maxar Technologies, according to Space News.
Word on the street, according to one industry analyst with keen eyes on the Maxar moves, is that some 120 employees have been let go in a first round of layoffs, with at least two more rounds to come. Several industry watchers said there is a widespread expectation that Advent will shortly sell off the two businesses, starting with the manufacturing side. (Private equity funds typically take short-term control of a business, then restructure it and resell it at a profit.)
A Maxar spokesperson confirmed the Space News story, but said nothing more could be released at this time.
The company, which acquired satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe in 2017, has a close relationship with the National Reconnaissance Office — last May winning one of three NRO contracts to provide electro-optical imagery covering five years, with a option for another five and worth a potential total of $3.24 billion.
It also has been supplying space-to-space imagery to NRO for some time, a market area that Maxar officials last month told Breaking Defense the company is trying to expand after having secured a license from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to allow commercial sales.
One Maxar official told Breaking Defense today that Maxar’s “mission focus” on NRO will not be affected by the split up.
