Momentus (NASDAQ:MNTS) shares surged about 30% after the company announced it has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to jointly develop new in-orbit servicing and space operations capabilities.
Under the agreement, the commercial space company will deploy a NASA CubeSat into low Earth orbit to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations, as well as formation flying. The mission will revolve around NASA’s R5 Spacecraft 10, which will act as a free-flying imaging platform supporting Momentus’ Vigoride 7 Orbital Service Vehicle and evaluating spacecraft health and performance.
The collaboration also includes NASA support for Momentus as it carries out the Low-Cost Multispectral RPO Sensor suite demonstration mission on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s SPACEWERX program. The sensor payload is designed to improve spacecraft situational awareness and relative navigation in orbit.
In addition, the mission will test inter-satellite communications using Wi-Fi-based data links, enabling the CubeSat to send large data files to the Vigoride host vehicle. Those files will then be downlinked to the Momentus Operations Center and NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
The R5-S10 mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 2026 aboard a SpaceX Transporter rideshare flight, with the payload hosted on Vigoride 7, which is now fully allocated. Momentus said the mission highlights the benefits of its multi-manifest hosted payload model, where operating multiple payloads together in orbit enhances the overall quality and performance of each mission.
The partnership is intended to support the development of more advanced, cost-efficient in-space servicing solutions, while also helping to lay the foundation for increased spacecraft autonomy in future operations.