🚀 NRO Awards Billions

🚀 NRO Awards Billions

May 27, 2022

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 05.27.2022

Happy Friday! And happy Memorial Day Weekend to our U.S. readers! Markets rebounded and the biggest news of the week came out of the National Reconnaissance Office involving billions of dollars worth of contracts that sent share prices soaring. Lets dive in.

📈 Market Max-Q

S&P 500: 4,158.23 +6.6%NASDAQ: 12,131.14 +6.8%UFO: 22.84 +6.2%ROKT: 38.58 +6.5%ARKX: 15.10 +5.5%ORBT: 17.68 +8.2%SSIT: 80.0 -7.1%BKSY: 2.62 +101.6%PL: 6.50 +28.7%MAXR: 30.69 +18.4%SATL: 4.77 -10.7%1W return as of 4:00pm EDT.

🚀 Top Stories

1) Spire ($SPIR) was awarded a five year multi-million sub-contract with TCOM for weather forecasts at Aerostat sites.

  • This is the company's largest numerical weather prediction deal to date.

 2) The National Reconnaissance Office announced the largest-ever commercial satellite imagery contract, worth billions over 10 years to BlackSky ($BKSY), Maxar ($MAXR) and Planet ($PL).

  • BlackSky's contract is worth $85M for the first five years and could be worth up to $1.0B. Shares spiked +97.5%.

  • Maxar's contract is worth up to $3.2B and shares traded +17.9%.

  • Planet did not disclose it's contracts value but shares rallied +14.2%.

 3) ViaSat ($VSAT) released fourth quarter and fiscal year 2022 earnings Wednesday after market close. Highlights include:

  • Revenue: $2,787.6M, +23.5% YoY

  • Adj. EBITDA: $611.2M, +15.2% YoY

  • Backlog: $2,032.7M, -11.8% YoY

  • Shares: -11.1%

🛰️ In Other News

Lunar Outpost Raises $12M Seed Round 

The round was led by Explorer 1 Fund with participation from Promus Ventures, Space Capital, Type One Ventures and Cathexis Ventures. The capital will be used to launch a new class of autonomous lunar rovers and invest in new technologies.

CropSafe Raises $3M Seed Round 

The AgTech startup's round was led by Elefund, with participation from Foundation Capital, Global Founders Capital, V1VC and Great Oaks Capital. The capital will help accelerate U.S. growth and expand their engineering and product teams.

Astrocast Heading for Second IPO 

The satellite IoT service startup is planning an initial public offering on the Euronext Growth Paris market that will be "crucial to fund the company’s immediate cash needs." While already trading on the Euronext Growth Oslo, market conditions would suggest other timing but the company has no choice.

Astroforge Raises $13M Seed Round 

The Asteroid mining startup round was led by Initialized Capital, with participation from Seven Seven Six, EarthRise, Aera VC, Liquid 2 and Soma. The company has reserved a spot on a future SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission.

📊 Chart of the Week

🔗 Links

• SpaceX Looking To Raise $1.7B in New Funding, Boosting Valuation to $127B• Starlink Surpasses 400,000 Subscribers Globally• Interview With Relativity Space’s Tim Ellis• ICEYE Partners With ESA and Arturo for Real-Time Flood Insights• Satellogic ($SATL) Announces Enhanced Operations in Australia• Varda Space Orders Fourth Photon Spacecraft From Rocket Lab ($RKLB)• Axiom Space and Italian Government Sign MOU• LeoLabs Wins Contract Award To Support Japan Air Self Defense Force• Momentus ($MNTS) Launches First Demonstration Flight on SpaceX Falcon 9• Launcher Awarded U.S. Space Force TACFI Contract• General Dynamics ($GD) and Iridium ($IRDM) Awarded $324.5M Contract from SDA

🗣️ Opinion

• The Space Industry Will Reach $1 Trillion in Revenue by 2040, Citi Says• Experts Offer Advice for Space Sector Entrepreneurs at Space Tech Expo• Astra ($ASTR) CEO Wants To Be the Toyota of Rocket Launchers• Virgin Galactic ($SPCE): Wishful Estimates• Economy Could Dampen Growth of Space Industry• Astra ($ASTR) CEO Says Space Will Be the Next Big Platform Regulation Is Needed To Avoid Chaos

📅 Earnings Calendar

• $PL: June 14 - After Market Close

*Company confirmed dates only.