TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Remnants of Vector Launch have made it back to one of its original architects after Phantom Space bought launch assets that were sold off in 2020 during the small rocket developer\u2019s bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
Tucson, Arizona-based satellite and rocket developer Phantom, co-founded by Jim Cantrell in 2019 after leaving Vector following its financial difficulties<\/a>, announced the acquisition Feb. 26. Financial details were not disclosed.<\/p>\n Cantrell said the assets, comprising flight-proven design elements, engineering data and other technology originally developed for Vector, will be immediately integrated into Phantom\u2019s Daytona vehicle architecture to reduce development risk.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the original architect of Vector\u2019s vision, it\u2019s deeply meaningful to bring these assets home to Phantom,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis acquisition isn\u2019t just about technology, it\u2019s about momentum. We\u2019re accelerating Daytona, creating high-tech aerospace jobs in Tucson, and moving faster toward orbital capability.\u201d<\/p>\n Phantom, which had raised $37 million as of March 2024<\/a>, did not detail how the assets would be integrated into Daytona, a two-stage rocket designed for payloads with a maximum mass of 500 kilograms.<\/p>\n The company said in a news release that it is preparing stage-level testing this year following successful hot-fire tests of Daytona\u2019s propulsion assemblies.<\/p>\n Launch pivots<\/p>\n Before its collapse, Vector had raised more than $100 million to develop a family of small launch vehicles that included Vector-R, designed to place about 60 kilograms into low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n Vector\u2019s launch assets were sold in May 2020 for $1.175 million to a consortium led by John Moran, CEO of Pennsylvania-based shipping company Moran Logistics, which had planned to repurpose them for suborbital missions<\/a>.<\/p>\n