Momentus Inc. (MNTS): SWOT Analysis [Nov-2025 Updated]

You're looking at Momentus Inc. (MNTS) right now, and what you see is a classic high-stakes space play: world-class, unique water plasma propulsion technology like Vigoride, which has secured major contracts, including $7.6 million from NASA, but it's defintely facing an immediate, brutal financial reality. The company's innovative in-space infrastructure services are the future, but a net loss of $23.7 million for the first nine months of 2025, coupled with a mere $670,000 in cash at the end of Q3 2025, means the clock is ticking. This isn't just a growth stock; it's a race to convert technological promise into sustainable revenue before the liquidity pressure forces a critical decision, so let's dig into the full SWOT-Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats-to map the clear actions you should consider.

Momentus Inc. (MNTS) - SWOT Analysis: Strengths

Unique Water Plasma Propulsion (Vigoride) Technology

Your biggest technical edge is the Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle (OSV) and its proprietary water plasma propulsion system, the Microwave Electrothermal Thruster (MET). This technology uses solar power to microwave distilled water, turning it into a high-energy plasma jet for thrust. It's a smart move because water is safer and simpler to handle than conventional toxic chemical fuels like hydrazine, which cuts down on pre-launch costs and complexity defintely.

The MET system is a powerful hybrid, offering higher efficiency than traditional chemical propulsion systems but with more thrust than typical electric propulsion. This is key for in-space maneuvering. We saw this validated in the Vigoride-5 mission in January 2023, which successfully performed over 35 thruster firings and raised its orbit by approximately 3 km using only the water propulsion system.

Recent Major Government Contracts Totaling $7.6 Million from NASA

The influx of government contracts, especially from NASA, is a strong signal of technology validation and a solid revenue stream. In October 2025, Momentus secured two new contracts totaling $7.6 million. These contracts position the Vigoride platform as a key enabler for next-generation space research and defense technology demonstrations.

Here's the quick math on the two major NASA awards from late 2025:

The $5.1 million contract for the COSMIC demonstration is huge because it validates Vigoride for in-space manufacturing-a high-value, emerging market.

Secured Competitive $1.86 Million U.S. Space Force (SpaceWERX) RPO Contract

Winning the $1.86 million Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from SpaceWERX in June 2025 demonstrates your competitive edge in the national security space.

This award is for an in-space flight demonstration of a novel, low-cost multi-spectral sensor suite for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO). This capability-safely approaching and interacting with another object in space-is foundational for future defense and commercial missions. The system uses a combination of sensors and advanced machine vision algorithms to guide the spacecraft autonomously.

• Demonstrates autonomous in-space operations.
• Validates internal R&D in machine vision and data fusion.
• Supports critical U.S. Space Force needs like orbital servicing and refueling.

Multi-Mission Capability: Transportation, Hosted Payloads, In-Orbit Servicing

The Vigoride OSV is not a one-trick pony; its modular design is built for maximum mission flexibility. This multi-mission capability is a core strength that diversifies your revenue streams and reduces reliance on any single market segment.

You can offer three distinct, high-value services using the same core vehicle:

• Transportation: Moving customer satellites from a launch vehicle's drop-off orbit to a precise, custom final orbit.
• Hosted Payloads: Providing power, data, and maneuvering for customer and government experiments, like the recent NASA COSMIC payload.
• In-Orbit Servicing: A forward-looking capability including refueling, repair, on-orbit inspection, and data relay, which is directly supported by the SpaceWERX RPO contract.

Plus, a separate contract expansion from DARPA, valued at about $3.5 million in February 2025, further validates the platform for in-space assembly of large-scale structures, a critical future capability.

Signed Three-Year, $15 Million Global Agreement with Solstar Space

The three-year reciprocal services agreement with Solstar Space, announced in October 2025, provides a service value of up to $15 million. This partnership is a clear commercial win that expands your market reach and enhances your service offering.

The deal integrates Momentus's logistics, launch, and on-orbit services with Solstar's advanced space-based communications products, creating a more complete, end-to-end solution for customers. This is about offering a full-stack space solution, not just a ride. The collaboration is explicitly designed to support demanding mission profiles for commercial, government, and space agency requirements, including Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) and In-Space Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM).

Momentus Inc. (MNTS) - SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses

Severe Liquidity Pressure with Only $670,000 Cash at Q3 2025 End

You need to look at the balance sheet first, and for Momentus Inc., the immediate red flag is liquidity. As of September 30, 2025, the company's cash and cash equivalents totaled a mere $670,000. This is not a healthy cash balance for a high-technology company in a capital-intensive sector like space infrastructure. Here's the quick math: in the first nine months of 2025 alone, Momentus Inc. used $12.7 million in net cash for its operating activities. That's a cash burn rate that makes the current cash position look like a rounding error. They are defintely dependent on external capital, which means they are constantly exposed to the volatility of capital markets just to keep the lights on.

Management Issued a Formal Going Concern Warning Due to Recurring Losses

When management explicitly raises a going concern warning, it's the financial equivalent of a Code Red. This isn't an analyst's opinion; it's a formal statement from the company itself that its financial condition raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue operating for a reasonable period. This warning stems directly from the combination of recurring net losses, persistent negative cash flows, and the minimal cash balance. To be fair, they are trying to raise capital-they generated $11.8 million in net cash from financing activities in the first nine months of 2025-but the warning still signals a critical structural problem that isn't solved by short-term capital raises.

Nine-Month 2025 Net Loss of $23.7 Million

The core issue is profitability, or the lack thereof. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, Momentus Inc. reported a net loss of $23.7 million. This loss is not an anomaly; it's part of a pattern, and it was driven by high operating expenses, which totaled $19.1 million year-to-date, and significant non-operating expenses. For instance, the company incurred a $2.9 million loss on debt extinguishment and other fair value changes in Q3 2025 alone. The accumulated deficit, which is the sum of all their past losses, stood at a staggering $431.7 million as of September 30, 2025.

Total Revenue Declined Sharply to $0.7 Million for Nine Months of 2025

The revenue picture is just as concerning as the cost structure. For the first nine months of 2025, total revenue was only $0.7 million (or $747,000 to be precise). This represents a sharp decline from the $1.8 million in revenue they generated during the same period in 2024. This downturn is primarily due to a reduction in engineering services revenue, which fell from $1.8 million to $0.5 million year-over-year. The revenue mix for the nine months included $0.2 million from customer deposit forfeitures, which is not a sustainable or scalable source of income. That's a 59% year-over-year revenue drop.

Here is a snapshot of the key financial weaknesses:

Stockholders' Deficit of $694,000 as of September 30, 2025

A stockholders' deficit means that the company's total liabilities exceed its total assets. As of September 30, 2025, Momentus Inc. had a stockholders' deficit of $694,000. This is a serious structural weakness that confirms the company is technically insolvent, even if only marginally. It means that if they liquidated all their assets-which totaled $19.6 million-they still would not be able to cover all their liabilities, which amounted to $20.3 million. This deficit is driven by a few key liability components:

• Accounts Payable: $5.4 million
• Current Loans Payable: $4.1 million
• Warrant Liabilities: $2.7 million

The current liabilities also exceed current assets, creating a working capital deficit. This is a tough spot to be in because it limits your ability to negotiate with vendors and creditors, plus it makes new financing much harder to secure on favorable terms.

Momentus Inc. (MNTS) - SWOT Analysis: Opportunities

Expansion into the rapidly growing commercial space economy

You are operating in a market that is not just growing, it's exploding. The global space economy reached a staggering $613 billion in 2024, according to the Space Foundation's 2025 Q2 report. Importantly, the commercial sector-where Momentus Inc. lives-drove 78% of that total. That means the commercial opportunity alone was roughly $478 billion in 2024, and it's projected to hit $1 trillion as soon as 2032.

This is a massive tailwind for a space logistics company like Momentus. Your core business, orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs), is a direct enabler of this growth, helping to place the thousands of new satellites being launched annually. The market is shifting from government-led missions to scalable, commercial networks, and Momentus has the technology to capture a piece of that infrastructure layer. It's a clear path to revenue, assuming you can stabilize operations.

New high-margin services like in-space manufacturing (NASA COSMIC mission)

The real opportunity is moving beyond simple orbital taxi services into high-margin, in-space infrastructure. You're already executing on this. In October 2025, Momentus was awarded a $5.1 million contract from NASA's Flight Opportunities program to support the Commercial Orbital System for Microgravity In-Space Crystallization (COSMIC) demonstration.

This mission uses your Vigoride vehicle to host a payload designed to grow semiconductor crystals in microgravity. That is a game-changer. Plus, you secured another $2.5 million contract for a rotating detonation rocket engine demonstration on the same mission, bringing the total value of this dual-payload effort to $7.6 million. These are not just science projects; they are foundational steps toward commercializing in-space production, a market that commands premium pricing.

Increasing government demand for orbital mobility and Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO)

Government agencies, particularly the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), are rapidly increasing their investment in space mobility and logistics-the exact services your Vigoride platform provides. The U.S. Space Force, for example, is requesting $20 million in R&D funds in its Fiscal Year 2025 budget for Space Access, Mobility, and Logistics (SAML) projects. A significant portion, $16 million, is earmarked specifically for in-orbit servicing and refueling technology research.

Momentus is already positioned with key contracts that validate this demand signal:

• DARPA NOM4D Program: A contract expansion valued at about $3.5 million for an in-orbit demonstration of large-scale structure assembly.
• NASA RPO/Servicing: Multiple contracts, including one for a study to fly critical foundational robotics technologies into space, demonstrating the need for RPO (Rendezvous and Proximity Operations) capabilities.

This government business provides stable, high-value contracts that help de-risk your technology development. It's defintely a strategic anchor for the company.

Leveraging Vigoride as a flexible platform for advanced technology demonstrations

The Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle is your core asset, and its modular design is the key to unlocking these diverse opportunities. It's not just a tug; it's a versatile, multi-mission platform. The financial value of this flexibility is clear in your recent contract wins:

Here's the quick math: these three government contracts alone represent a total of approximately $11.1 million in service value, which is a significant multiple of your Q2 2025 revenue of $0.2 million. This shows the pipeline for high-value, non-transport services is strong.

Potential for reusability and sustainability goals to attract long-term customers

Momentus's proprietary Vigoride propulsion system is water plasma-based, which inherently aligns with the growing industry focus on sustainability. Using water as a propellant is a sustainable approach because it is a non-toxic, abundant resource that can potentially be sourced in-space (in-situ resource utilization).

This focus on 'green' propulsion and on-orbit servicing (like refueling) is a powerful differentiator for long-term commercial customers who are increasingly concerned about space debris and mission longevity. The global standard for orbital debris mitigation, the 25-year rule, is being enforced, and a vehicle like Vigoride, which can perform precise orbit adjustments and de-orbiting, becomes a critical tool for compliance and responsible space operations. This sustainability narrative can attract long-term contracts from satellite constellation operators and governments alike.

Momentus Inc. (MNTS) - SWOT Analysis: Threats

Intense competition from well-funded rivals like Impulse Space and D-Orbit

You are operating in a market where your competitors have secured orders of magnitude more capital, which means they can execute on longer-term roadmaps and absorb more risk than Momentus Inc. can. Impulse Space, for example, is a direct competitor in the in-space transportation sector that has raised a total funding of approximately $525 million as of October 2025, with a massive Series C round of $300 million closing in May 2025. D-Orbit, another key rival, has also raised significantly more, with total funding of approximately $170 million. To be fair, Momentus's total funding is only about $33.8 million. This huge funding gap is a constant headwind.

Here is the quick math on the funding disparity as of late 2025:

Critical dependency on securing substantial additional external capital to sustain operations

The company's financial health is precarious, creating a substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern for the next year without raising significant additional capital. The cash position is defintely a flashing red light. As of June 30, 2025, Momentus reported cash and cash equivalents of only $132 thousand. This is barely a rounding error compared to the operational needs of a space-tech company.

The core problem is the cash burn rate versus revenue generation:

• Operating cash burn was approximately $7.4 million over the six months ending June 30, 2025.
• Q2 2025 revenue was only $191,000, which is an 84.2% drop from the prior year period.

What this estimate hides is the need for large, non-dilutive contracts to bridge the gap; the current financing efforts are simply a short-term bridge.

Risk of technical failure on upcoming demonstration missions (e.g., February 2026 DARPA flight)

The success of the core technology-the Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle (OSV)-is tied to high-stakes demonstration missions, and any failure would be catastrophic for securing future contracts. The next key mission is Vigoride 7, scheduled for launch no earlier than February 2026.

This single mission carries multiple, complex, and high-risk payloads:

• The DARPA Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) in-space assembly demonstration.
• A NASA contract to test power processing technology for Hall Thrusters.
• A demonstration of Portal Space Systems' advanced flight computer technology.

Since this will be Momentus's fourth Vigoride mission and first supporting DARPA, a technical failure would not just mean a loss of the $1.2 million in milestone payments received since March 2025, but it would also severely damage credibility with key government and commercial partners.

Dilution risk from ongoing capital raise efforts and warrant transactions

To keep the lights on, Momentus has been forced into a series of highly dilutive capital raises involving common stock and warrants. This is a necessary evil, but it crushes shareholder value. The number of Class A shares outstanding was already 11,634,365 as of August 15, 2025.

Recent capital raises in 2025 have significantly increased the potential share count:

• In July 2025, a public offering of common stock and warrants brought in approximately $4.0 million in gross proceeds.
• An August 2025 warrant inducement transaction generated about $2.7 million in cash but involved issuing additional inducement warrants, adding to the overhang.
• Most recently, an October 2025 warrant inducement transaction raised approximately $7.0 million in gross cash proceeds by exercising existing warrants, but in exchange, the company issued new October 2025 Class A unregistered warrants to purchase up to 7,469,607 shares of common stock.

This constant cycle of issuing new warrants to induce the exercise of old ones is a clear, quantifiable threat to the value of existing shares.

Regulatory hurdles and launch schedule delays inherent to the space industry

The space industry is notoriously susceptible to delays, and Momentus has also faced direct regulatory and compliance threats. The Vigoride 7 mission is scheduled for a rideshare launch on a SpaceX Transporter mission no earlier than February 2026, a date that is subject to the primary mission schedule, weather, and technical issues outside of Momentus's control.

On the compliance side, the company has been battling to maintain its listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market. As of early 2025, Momentus was working to regain compliance with NASDAQ's listing requirements, including the minimum $1 per share rule and the Equity Rule (minimum stockholders' equity). If the stock loses its NASDAQ listing, it would likely trade on the over-the-counter market, which would severely limit liquidity and further impair the ability to raise necessary capital.