Prepaids and Other Current Assets

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Deferred Costs, Capitalized, Prepaid, and Other Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Prepaids and other current assets consisted of the following:


(in thousands)	September 30, 2021		December 31, 2020
Prepaid launch costs, current	$	—	$	2,260
Prepaid research and development	5,491		1,453
Prepaid insurance and other assets	4,917		796
Total	$	10,408	$	4,508

As of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the non-current portion of prepaid launch costs recorded in other non-current assets was $3.0 million and $2.4 million, respectively.

FAA application

On May 10, 2021, the Company received a letter from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) denying the Company’s application for a payload review for the then-planned June 2021 launch. According to the letter, during an interagency consultation, the FAA was informed that the launch of the Company’s payload posed national security concerns associated with the Company’s then-current corporate structure. The letter further stated that the FAA understood that the Company was undergoing a process that might resolve the national security concerns, and that the FAA could reconsider a payload application when that process was completed.

As a result of the FAA application denial, on May 21, 2021, the Company received notification from one of its launch service providers that it was terminating two launch service agreements for flights scheduled during calendar year 2021 and that they considered the Company to be in default of prior payments totaling $8.7 million. The Company believes the prepayments will be non-recoverable as this was the third time the payload was rescheduled. As a result of the notification from one of its launch service providers, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $8.7 million of prepaid launch costs during the nine months ended September 30, 2021. See Note 15 for more information about the potential recovery of a portion of the impaired launch costs.