Astroscale reports ¥36.3bn backlog as project income slips

(SpaceEnergy) Astroscale reported a ¥36.3 billion backlog at the end of its first quarter as project-income recognition slowed across its in-orbit servicing programmes.

The Japanese company reported project income of ¥2.02 billion for the three months to 31 July, down 14.5% year on year, while revenue fell 4.4% to ¥1.20 billion. Its operating loss widened to ¥2.75 billion from ¥2.38 billion a year earlier.

Astroscale attributed the lower project income primarily to delays in recognising revenue across multiple programmes, resulting from slower-than-expected component procurement and launch schedules. It said the underlying business impact was limited.

The company ended the quarter with ¥34.9 billion in cash. Its ¥36.3 billion backlog comprised ¥25.8 billion of contracted work and ¥10.5 billion of confirmed but not yet contracted work.

Operationally, Astroscale said thermal-vacuum testing had been completed for its ELSA-M debris-removal spacecraft, while assembly, integration and verification had formally begun for ADRAS-J2. Environmental testing of its US APS-R satellite-servicing programme was scheduled to start in September.

Astroscale retained its full-year forecast for project income of ¥12.5-17 billion, revenue of ¥7-9 billion and an operating loss of ¥9-9.9 billion.