🚀 Neutron Meets Virginia

🚀 Neutron Meets Virginia

April 15, 2022

The Space Scoop

Week Ending 04.15.2022

Happy Friday! U.S. markets are closed today for Good Friday but space is still open for business. The newswires were welcomedly quiet this week while the Q1 earnings calendar fills out. Lets dive in.

Market Max-Q 📈

Indexes:S&P 500: 4,392.60 -2.1%NASDAQ: 13,351.0 -2.6%ETFs:UFO: 25.22 +1.3%ROKT: 41.12 +1.4%ARKX: 17.02 -0.5%ORBT: 19.01 +2.0%SSIT: 106.8 +2.3%Weekly Movers:PL: 5.72 +9.0%RKLB: 8.42 +8.0%MNTS: 3.46 -13.7%LLAP: 4.24 -31.8%As of 4/14/2022 market close.

Top Stories 🚀 

Aerojet Cashes In On ULA Engine Contract

United Launch Alliance has awarded the largest RL10 contract to date to Aerojet Rocketdyne ($AJRD) to deliver 116 RL10C-X engines for its Vulcan Centaur rocket. The new engines will support ULA as it works to fulfill its commitments from Amazon's ($AMZN) Project Kuiper. "We’ve leveraged our industry-leading 3D-printing technology to significantly reduce the cost of the engine while at the same time increasing its performance to provide our customer with enhanced mission capability,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake.

Neutron's Virginia Production Center Now Underway 

On Monday, $RKLB broke ground on the construction of a Neutron focused manufacturing complex located in Wallops, Virginia. The development will be home to the production, assembly, and integration of their Neutron rocket launch vehicle.The 250,000 square foot complex is being constructed on a 28 acre site adjacent to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Rocket Lab selected Virginia as the location due to the location’s ability to support frequent launch opportunities.

Planet Lab's New Product Offering

$PL released a new product offering named "Planetary Variables", which is a result of increased product capabilities gained by the acquisition of VanderSat. The new data, which consists of pre-processed, accurate data feeds will measure Soil Water Content, Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation Biomass Proxy.The new offering will help allow customers to make informed decisions in various industries, including agriculture to emergency response.

Q1'22 Space Investment Quarterly Report

According to the venture capital firm Space Capital, $7.2B was invested across 118 companies in the first quarter of 2022 - $1.5B in Infrastructure, $0.5B in Distribution and $5.2B in Applications. Beware though! The Applications category includes funding from online payment processors to scooters startups. Accounting for that, we estimate that ~$3.2B is a better estimate for space investment in the first three months of 2022. Check out the full report here.

Amazon Hits on Project Kuiper in 2021 Shareholder Letter

Yesterday, $AMZN released their 2021 letter to shareholders. In it, CEO Andy Jassy discussed iterative innovation and the process of growing "the seed of a big idea." Here's what he had to say about Project Kuiper:"Kuiper will serve customers with minimal to no fixed broadband connectivity, changing access to information and resources for many communities (analysts estimate approximately 300-400M customers globally). We’re optimistic that there is a pretty good business model for us too, but we’ll see — and it’s a real game changer for underserved families and businesses that will unfold over many years as we keep evolving its capabilities."

In Other News 🛰️ 

ConstellR Acquires ScanWorld 

The German thermal remote sensing specialist acquired the Belgian hyperspectral firm for an undisclosed amount.

Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co. Establish Joint Venture 

The two initiated a JV in Japan to accelerate on-orbit services to commercial and government customers.

PCX Aerosystems Acquires Honematic Machine 

PCX announced the April 1st acquisition of Honematic, a supplier of extendable refueling probes for the rotorcraft market, from the Cusimano family for an undisclosed amount.

Astra and LeoStella's Satellite Engine Contract

On Tuesday, $ASTR announced a contract to provide multiple Spacecraft Engines for LeoStella and their satellites. Delivery is expected to begin later this year and into 2023.

Avanti Restructures

The British satellite operator cut its $810M debt load down to $260M after a debt for equity swap. Solus Alternative Asset Management and HPS Investment Partners are now the largest shareholders.

Quick Links 🔗

• Q&A with AST SpaceMobile’s ($ASTS) CSO• SatixFy ($EDNC) Announces the Passing of Co-Founder and CEO• Q&A with Rocket Lab ($RKLB) on Reusability and Launch Demand• Redwire ($RDW) Compliant With NYSE and SEC Reporting Requirements• Orbit Fab and Neutron Star Systems Announce Partnership• Astranis Adds Extra Year of Life to Small GEO Satellite Design• Exotrail Releases New In-Space Mobility Service: The SpaceVan• Viasat ($VSAT) Signs MOU With Bahrain Telecommunication Company• PSN Group Selects Hughes ($SATS) JUPITER System for Indonesia• Sidus ($SIDU) Announces New CFO• D-Orbit ($BREZ) Announces Sub-Contract with Beyond Gravity• Jeff Crusey of Seraphim Space ($SSIT) on Investing in Earth Observation

Opinion 🗣️

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Capacity Crunch May Abort U.S. Satellite Boom

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How SpaceX Came To Dominate the Launch Business

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Can Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) Rocket Higher Again?

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Don’t Mess With Texas Space Startups

Calendar 📅

• $IRDM: April 19 - Before Market Open• $LMT: April 19 - Before Market Open• $BA: April 27 - Before Market Open• $GD: April 27 - Before Market Open• $MYNA: April 28 - 11:00am EST• $SPCE: May 5 - After Market Close• $MDA: May 11 - Before Market Open• $MAXR: May 11 - Shareholder Meeting• $RKLB: May 16 - After Market Close

*Company confirmed dates only.

Chart of the Week 📊

A breakdown of the $513M distribution category funding raised in Q1'22 per Space Capital. Distribution accounts for hardware and software that connects, processes and manages data for space based assets. Project44, Kymeta, Infostellar and Leanspace are included.