Description of the Company and Operating Environment

12 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Description of the Company and Operating Environment

(1) Description of the Company and Operating Environment

Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq: ASTC) (“Astrotech,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), a State of Washington corporation, is a commercial aerospace company that was formed in 1984 to leverage the environment of space for commercial purposes. For nearly 30 years, the Company has remained a crucial player in space commerce activities. We have supported the launch of 23 shuttle missions and more than 300 spacecraft. We’ve designed and built space hardware and processing facilities and constructed world-class processing facilities. We currently own, operate and maintain world-class spacecraft processing facilities; prepare and process scientific research from microgravity and develop and manufacture sophisticated chemical sensor equipment.

Our Business Units

Astrotech Space Operations (ASO)

ASO provides support to its government and commercial customers as they successfully process complex communication, earth observation and deep space satellites in preparation for their launch on a variety of launch vehicles. Processing activities include satellite ground transportation; pre-launch hardware integration and testing; satellite encapsulation, fueling, launch pad delivery; and communication linked launch control. Our ASO facilities can process five-meter class satellites accommodating the majority of U.S. based satellites. ASO’s service capabilities include designing and building spacecraft processing equipment and facilities. In addition, ASO provides propellant services including designing, building and testing propellant service equipment for fueling spacecraft. ASO accounted for 99% of our consolidated revenues for the period ended June 30, 2013. Revenue for our ASO business unit is generated primarily from various fixed-priced contracts with launch service providers in both government and commercial markets and the design, fabrication and use of critical space launch equipment. The services and facilities we provide to our customers support the final assembly, checkout, and countdown functions required to launch a spacecraft. The revenue and cash flows generated from our ASO operations are primarily related to the number of spacecraft launches and the fabrication of the GSE for the U.S. Government.

Spacetech

Our other business unit is a technology incubator designed to commercialize space-industry technologies. This business unit is currently pursuing two distinct opportunities:

1^st Detect

The Company develops, manufactures and sells ultra-small mass spectrometers and related equipment. Mass spectrometers, in general, measure the mass and relative abundance of ions in a sample to create a “mass spectrum”. This resulting mass spectrum is a unique fingerprint for each chemical that can be compared to a reference library of mass spectra to verify the identity of a sample. Mass spectrometers can identify chemicals with more accuracy and precision than competing instruments given their extreme sensitivity and specificity and they are a staple of almost all analytical laboratories. By leveraging technology initiated by an engagement with NASA to develop a mass spectrometer for the International Space Station, the Company has developed a series of instruments that are significantly smaller, lighter, faster and less expensive than competing mass spectrometers, and significantly more sensitive and accurate than other competing chemical detectors. Our efforts have resulted in a technology that can provide mass spectrometry performance in real-time or in the field.

The MMS-1000^TM is a small, low power mass spectrometer designed initially for the laboratory market. The unique design of this unit enables mass spectrometric quality chemical analysis in a small package (about the size of a shoebox) that operates off less power than a typical light bulb. This allows high quality chemical analysis to be performed in locations where mass spectrometers have not been used before, such as directly on the factory floor or in the battlefield, without compromising the quality of the analysis.

The OEM-1000 is a mass spectrometer component that was developed for applications where customers need the high quality analysis provided by a mass spectrometer but in a platform that can be integrated into customer specific packages. The OEM-1000 uses the same high performance analyzer as the MMS-1000^TM but is provided as an open platform for customers and development partners to integrate with their complementary technologies, with application-specific sample preparation, inlets and software.

Astrogenetix

Astrogenetix is a biotechnology company formed to commercialize products processed in the unique environment of microgravity. Astrogenetix pursued an aggressive space access strategy to take advantage of the Space Shuttle program prior to its retirement in 2011. This strategy gave Astrogenetix unprecedented access to research in microgravity, as the Company flew experiments twelve times over a three year period. Astrogenetix and the team are currently researching a Salmonella vaccine as part of its ongoing commercialization strategy. Concurrently, the team is evaluating a vaccine target for MRSA based on discoveries made in microgravity. In December 2011, the Company negotiated a Space Act Agreement with NASA for a minimum of twenty eight additional space flights.

Liquidity

Our future capital requirements will depend on a number of factors, including our success in developing and expanding markets for our products, payments under possible future strategic arrangements, continued progress of our research and development of potential products, the need to acquire licenses to new technology, costs associated with increasing our manufacturing and development facilities, costs associated with strategic acquisitions including integration costs and assumed liabilities, litigation expense, the status of competitive products and potential cost associated with both protecting and defending our intellectual property. Additionally, actions taken as a result of the ongoing internal evaluation of our business could result in expenditures not currently contemplated in our estimates for 2014. We believe, however, that our existing cash and cash equivalents are sufficient to fund our operating expenses, capital equipment requirements and other expected liquidity requirements for the coming year. Factors that could affect our capital requirements, in addition to those listed above include continued collections of accounts receivable consistent with our historical experience, uncertainty surrounding mission launch schedules, and our ability to manage product development efforts.

At June 30, 2013, we had cash and cash equivalents of $5.1 million and our working capital was approximately $4.3 million.

The Company’s debt repayments are due as follows (in thousands):

	Balance		Fiscal Year		Fiscal Year		Fiscal Year
	6/30/2013		2014		2015		2016
Term Note	$	6,042	$	387	$	403	$	5,252

Our bank financing facilities contain certain affirmative and negative covenants with which we must comply, including the maintenance by us of a debt service coverage ratio of not less than 1.00 to 1.00, maintaining a tangible net worth of not less than $32.50 million, and a maintaining a leverage ratio of not greater than .50 to 1.00. These financial covenants are applicable to the results of ASO. In the event we are not in compliance with a covenant, the bank may, among other things, accelerate all outstanding borrowings, cease extending credit or foreclose on collateral. During fiscal year 2013, we were not in compliance with our debt service coverage ratio and we obtained a waiver from the bank that indefinitely waived this event of default with respect to the periods we were in non-compliance. As of June 30, 2013, we were in compliance with our affirmative and negative debt covenants. However, our financial projections for fiscal year 2014 indicated that we will likely not be in compliance with our debt service coverage ratio and minimum tangible net worth covenants by the third quarter ended March 31, 2014. On October 11, 2013, we amended the debt agreement with our bank that updated the following with respect to our debt covenants: 1) provided a credit of $0.50 million and $2.25 million for the third and fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014, respectively, to our debt service coverage calculation, 2) reduced our minimum tangible net worth requirement to $32.0 million for the third and fourth fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2014, and 3) required that we maintain a minimum cash balance at the bank of $2.0 million through June 30, 2014 and $0.750 million thereafter. Under the terms of the amendment, we expect to be compliant with our affirmative and negative covenants through June 30, 2014. Therefore, we have classified our debt as noncurrent for any principal payments due after June 30, 2014.

We believe we have sufficient liquidity and backlog to fund ongoing operations for at least the next fiscal year. We expect to utilize existing cash and proceeds from operations to grow our core business offering in ASO and to support strategies for Spacetech.