Maxar/SS-L sees revenues drop
May 13, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Maxar Technologies, still better known by many as MDA for its ‘Canadarm’ robotic division or Space Systems/Loral for its satellite-building subsidiary, suffered a drop in its latest quarterly revenues to March 31st. Revenues were $504 million ($557.7 million for the same Q1 period last year).
The main reason was the industry-wide slump in satellite orders. Maxar is busy developing its ‘Worldview’ high-resolution imaging division but in January it lost a WorldView-4 satellite (and received $183 million in insurance). It has supplied 3 special satellites for Canada, and these will launch in June on a SpaceX rocket.
Maxar Space, the former Space Systems/Loral division, has not won an order this year. “In terms of future business, we have a very strong pipeline of commercial and government business, both classified and unclassified,” CEO Dan Jablonsky said in an analysts’ call. “Not only are we forecasting that we’re going to have wins in this business [this year] but we’ve also been discussing that we can do that on a smaller footprint. So, we’ll be more nimble.”