A report in Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper says that Munich-based Rivada Space has not been paying salaries on time this year and has outstanding bills to at least four suppliers. The is said to not be the first time that there have been delays.

The newspaper quotes a letter from CEO Declan Ganley, sent on June 25th to staff, saying: “Dear All: We want to tell everyone that we are paying salaries late this month”. The letter promised compensation, but the news report says it was not the first time that staff had to wait for their salaries.

Pierre Lionnet, director of research at Eurospace (the trade organisation of the European space industry), is quoted as saying that Rivada has been overpromising but underdelivering and importantly that Rivada can no longer meet its ITU milestone obligations. Those obligations require it to have orbited 144 satellites by mid-2026 (and the balance by September 2026).

Rivada has a $2.4 billion order with Terran Orbital, now owned by Lockheed Martin. In October a Rivada spokesman stressed that Rivada was on track to build the first 300 satellites of the planned constellation. “We are confident that we will be able to finance our satellite production and meet our regulatory milestones. Since the takeover [of Terran Orbital/TO], Lockheed Martin has been highly constructive and supportive of the TO/Rivada relationship and mission (and now has much more visibility to it). To be clear, there has never been a dispute between Lockheed Martin and Rivada, quite the opposite.”

Nevertheless, Rivada and Ganley have suffered some negative headlines just lately. Ganley is involved in a major dispute over an alleged $20 million debt owed to David Shuman. Ganley has accused Shuman of fraud, but a report in The Irish Times details further financial problems faced by Ganley. Ganley was warned earlier in October by Judge Jeffifer Schecter in the New York Supreme Court that he was already in contempt of court over non-payments of $20,000 (€18,300) per month to Shuman.

However, on the positive side a few days ago Rivada announced a major contract “partnership” agreement with Colt Technology Services, described as a “global digital infrastructure company”. Rivada says it will provide a “unique next generation connectivity network with the necessary speed, security and performance to drive digital innovation and transformation”.

Rivada has been waiting for a significant cash injection from a “Middle East sovereign wealth fund” for some time.

Observers suggest that Rivada might now be at risk of losing its priority filings with the ITU. “Who is going to fund a fifth megaconstellation after OneWeb, Starlink, Amazon Kuiper and Telesat Lightspeed [and] with lower priority than all these?” asked one.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. AT&T explains AST SpaceMobile strategy
2. ESA introduces Fair Return structure
3. New EU space boss explains strategy
4. Eutelsat suffers from negative bank report
5. MultiChoice, eMedia make peace
6. Eutelsat criticised over “Kremlin links”
7. Rivada Space “still working” with Terran Orbital
8. D2D: Power levels concerns
9. Terran Orbital hit with Class Action

Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: germany, rivada, Rivada Space