Lockheed Martin increases its bet on satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital with $100 million investment

A $100 million investment and a cooperation agreement for the development and sale of smallsats is what Lockheed Martin is going to invest in.

Terran decided to build its $300 million space vehicle manufacturing facility in Irvine, California instead of Florida. Terran Orbital decided to move to California because it could move into the facilities quicker than in Florida. Space Florida was going to provide the conduit financing for the facility, which is a huge loss.

Terran Orbital designs and builds satellites for the US government and commercial customers. Bell said in an interview that almost all of the company's work is related to the Department of Defense and NASA.

The following year, it led a $36 million investment round. Terran said in a statement that the new funds will be used to increase satellite module production. The smallsat manufacturer said it would expand its offerings to include a synthetic aperture radar satellite product line and satellite components.

The company decided to offer the technology as a product instead of launching and operating its own constellation of satellites. The conflict in Ukranian showed the need for satellite imagery, according to Terran.

Terran Orbital is one of a few space ventures that went public through a merger. The price of the company's stock jumped after the news of the deal with Lockheed was made public. Since its public market debut, Terran's stock value has plummeted, and is currently down around 75%.