General Information

6 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

General Information

(1) General Information

Description of the Company – Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq: ASTC) (“Astrotech,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), a Washington corporation, is a company that was formed in 1984 to leverage the environment of space for commercial purposes. For 30 years, the Company remained a crucial player in space commerce activities which supported the launch of 23 shuttle missions and more than 300 spacecraft. We currently prepare and process scientific research in microgravity and develop and manufacture sophisticated, next generation chemical sensor equipment. We are also evaluating potential investment opportunities where we can leverage our significant operating experience to add considerable value.

Basis of Presentation – The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared by Astrotech Corporation in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring entries) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the six months ended December 31, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending June 30, 2015. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2014.

Discontinued Operations – On August 22, 2014, the Company completed the previously announced sale (“Asset Sale”) of substantially all of its assets used in the Company's former Astrotech Space Operations (“ASO”) business unit (the “ASO business”) to Lockheed Martin Corporation (the “Buyer”) for an agreed upon purchase price of $61.0 million, less a working capital adjustment. As of December 31, 2014, the Company has received cash of $52.6 million and has recorded receivables of $0.6 million for the working capital holdback and $6.1 million for the indemnity holdback. In connection with the sale of our former ASO business unit, the outstanding debt of ASO was repaid with a portion of the proceeds. The Company has no other debt outstanding as of December 31, 2014. The condensed consolidated financial statements separately report discontinued operations, reflecting the former ASO business, and the results of continuing operations. The condensed consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2014 and for the three and six month periods ended December 31, 2013 have been reclassified to present the operations of the Company’s former ASO business unit as discontinued operations. Disclosures included herein pertain to the Company’s continuing operations unless noted otherwise (see Note 3 for more information).

Accounting Pronouncements – In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).” This ASU provides a single comprehensive revenue recognition model for all contracts with customers. The principle for recognizing revenue is clarified as the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This ASU provides a five-step analysis to determine how revenue is recognized. The provisions of the ASU are effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the pending adoption of this ASU on its financial statements as well as which method of adoption the Company will utilize.

In April 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-08, “Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity,” which changes the criteria for disposals to qualify as discontinued operations and requires new disclosures about disposals of both discontinued operations and certain other disposals that do not meet the new definition. Early adoption of this ASU is permitted and is effective prospectively for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2014. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the pending adoption of this ASU on its financial statements but will adopt this standard in fiscal 2016.

Segment Information – With the sale of the ASO business, the Company now operates a single reportable business unit, Spacetech. Since the Company operates in one segment, all financial segment information required by FASB ASC 280 can be found in the condensed consolidated financial statements.

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

1^st Detect

1^st Detect 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 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 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) to develop a mass spectrometer for the International Space Station (“ISS”), 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 at a lower price point. Our efforts have resulted in a technology that has been or will be deployed in the following areas:

· Explosive device detection in airports – our device has at least 100 times the specificity of the current generation of screening devices, meaning fewer false alarms and a higher probability of threat detection. Our solution also has better resolution, translating into detection of a broader range of compounds, which allows us to see not only traditional explosives, but also homemade and improvised explosives, an area where the current technology lags.

· Military – our technology is extremely sensitive, so we can detect chemical warfare agents in much lower concentrations than incumbent technologies. The high level of specificity of our instrumentation not only improves detection of traditional threats, but also detects next generation chemical agents not easily detectable by current instrumentation. We expect that our products will be used to verify decontamination of previously contaminated sites and to positively identify a suspect compound following an alarm on a less sophisticated instrument.

· Industrial process control – we are enabling cost effective real-time in situ mass spectrometer analysis for the first time. While competing technologies can alarm when there is an anomaly in a process, our technology can provide insights about those deviations where other instrumentation is limited.

· Food & beverage – we are also enabling cost effective real-time in situ mass spectrometer analysis for the first time in the food and beverage industry. Not only does our instrumentation provide a full set of information to more thoroughly analyze results when there is a deviation in quality, but we provide objectivity that human taste testers cannot.

· Semiconductor – our products are able to detect excursion events. Most incumbent technologies are tuned to look for a particular contaminant, but our instrument can warn of virtually any potential contaminant, making ours a much more robust solution.

· Oil & gas – given the sensitivity and speed of our technology, we can detect smaller leaks sooner than the competition as well as more completely characterize production and potential production.

· Laboratory research – our products are significantly less expensive than the competition and have a minimal footprint, making our products a great solution for entities with limited funding and counter space.

· Petrochemical & refining – our products are able to provide real time information upon which automatic and/or humans may make consequential decisions regarding product quality, efficiency of production, and feedstock performance.

Our product portfolio currently consists of the following products:

· MMS-1000™ - the MMS-1000™ is a small, low power desktop mass spectrometer designed for the laboratory market. The unique design of this unit enables fast, mass spectrometric quality chemical analysis but requires minimal benchtop space (about the size of a shoebox), requires less power than a typical light bulb, and unlike traditional instruments, requires no consumables or special infrastructure. It has been particularly well-received by the laboratory research marketplace.

· OEM-1000 - the OEM-1000 is a mass spectrometer component that is designed to be integrated into customers specific packaging and enclosures, and is well-suited to be integrated with application specific sampling or separation technology. A variant, the OEM-1000PI has recently been integrated into a Thermogravimetric Analyzer (“TGA”) manufactured by RIGAKU Corp. of Tokyo, Japan, one of the leading instrumentation companies in Asia. The integrated instrument named Thermo iMS2 is the world’s first integrated TGA with MS/MS capabilities and is expected to be well-received by the international research and development markets. A further variant of the OEM-1000 has been selected by Battelle, a leading supplier of military chemical detection equipment, for integration into the Next Generation Chemical Detector, a program under development by the DOD’s Joint Program Executive for Chemical and Biological Defense.

· iONTRAC – the iONTRAC is a process analyzer utilizing the same mass spectrometer technology as the MMS-1000™. The iONTRAC provides near real-time monitoring of industrial processes such as petrochemical processing, food & beverage manufacturing, and semiconductor cleanroom environmental monitoring. The instrument is designed to autonomously monitor processes and report conditions over industry standard factory management system (“FMS”) infrastructure.

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 NASA space shuttle program prior to its retirement in 2011. This strategy gave Astrogenetix unprecedented access to research in microgravity, as we flew experiments twelve times over a three year period. In collaboration with NASA, NASA has engaged leading vaccine development experts through a premier educational institution to independently evaluate Astrogenetix’s platform with specific direction to aid in the filing of an Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for Salmonella. Given that NASA is providing much of the necessary funding for this research, additional investment in Astrogenetix has been scaled back considerably as efforts are concentrated on filing this IND. The team is also evaluating a vaccine target for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (“MRSA”) based on early discoveries made in microgravity. We have negotiated a Space Act Agreement with NASA for a minimum of twenty-eight additional space flights following the successful filing of the IND for Salmonella.