🚀 SpaceX Unveils Starshield

🚀 SpaceX Unveils Starshield

December 09, 2022

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 12.09.2022

Happy Friday! There was some big news out of SpaceX, some aerospace beef and a handful of capital raises this week. Rumor has it that it's also your editor's birthday today.. 🎉 Lets dive in.

📈 Market Max-Q

S&P 500: 3,934.39 -3.4%NASDAQ: 11,004.63 -4.0%UFO: 19.38 -4.7%ROKT: 38.53 -4.4%ARKX: 12.76 -5.5%SSIT: 45.40 -7.0%BKSY: 2.06 +15.7%MYNA: 3.65 -18.3%LLAP: 1.63 -23.8%ASTS: 4.27 -26.6%1W return as of 4:00pm EDT.

🚀 Top Stories

1) SpaceX announced Starshield, the military version of Starlink.

  • "Starshield leverages SpaceX's Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on three areas: earth observation, communications and hosted payloads," the company writes.

  • Many details remain to be uncovered with the new service as this was introduced to the public via a new webpage. One would imagine SpaceX is targeting their largest government customer: the Pentagon.

 2) Accenture ($ACN) and Planet ($PL) announced a collaboration on AI-powered geospatial intelligence tools.

  • Accenture, through its Accenture Ventures Project Spotlight initiative, and Planet will help drive decision-making at organizations across various industries, such as agriculture, consumer packaged goods, energy, forestry and government.

  • The two will collaborate on an array of sustainability and impact initiatives, including measurement, traceable supply chain strategy and data-based climate risk assessments to mitigate disruption across global value chains.

 3) Raytheon ($RTX) called out Aerojet Rocketdyne ($AJRD) for struggling to deliver engines. 

  • Amidst rumors that the company is evaluating bids to sell themself, Aerojet is reportedly struggling to deliver quality rocket motors and has become “the weak link” in Raytheon's supply chain.

  • Raytheon's CEO said their “supply chain has at least stabilized with the exception of our rocket-motor supplier. In fact, that is the only supplier that's getting worse…from a performance standpoint, as opposed to better.” He continued “we need some adult supervision there to actually help these guys.” Ouch..

🛰️ In Other News

Slingshot Aerospace Raises $40.9M Series A2 

The space data and analytics startup announced the oversubscribed round to drive global expansion. Slingshot last raised its $25M Series A1 in March. The round was led by Sway Ventures with participation from C16 Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and Draper Associates. In addition to equity funding, Horizon Technology Finance ($HRZN) provided a venture loan to accelerate growth.

Dawn Aerospace Raises $20M 

The New Zealand-based integrated space-transportation network startup looks to use the capital to expand its offering of satellite propulsion systems and spaceplane development. Icehouse Ventures led the round with participation from GD1 and Movac. 

E-Space To Acquire CommAgility For $14.5M 

The company entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CommAgility from the Wireless Telecom Group ($WTT). CA is the largest stand-alone developer of embedded signal processing and Radio Frequency (RF) modules. The transaction will provide proven 5G source code and dedicated in-house hardware and software development team.

📊 Chart of the Week

It was a rough week for the 🅰️-Mob with $ASTS shares falling -27% in a continued negative reaction to last week's share offering. AST has been one of the few space SPACs that hasn't fully decimated shareholder value since 2021. Eyes will be on the stock next week.

🔗 Links

• Maxar ($MAXR) Secures NOAA Approval To Provide Non-Earth Imaging Services• Sierra Space Selected by Maxar ($MAXR) To Provide Solar Power Solutions• Momentus ($MNTS) To Fly JINJUSat-1 for CONTEC Co.• Sidus ($SIDU) Successfully Conducts LizzieSat-1 Mission Critical Design Review• Globalstar ($GSAT) Signs Commercial Agreement With Wiagro• Iridium ($IRDM) Announces Quarterly Dividend Program• Terran Orbital ($LLAP) Creates New Optical Solutions Group• Sidus ($SIDU) Announces International Expansion• Virgin Orbit ($VORB) Targeting December 14th for Cornwall Launch• Arqit ($ARQQ) Announces QuantumCloud, Powered by AWS• Aerojet Rocketdyne ($AJRD) Awarded $98.5M To Produce Joint Economical Sled Track Rockets• Sidus ($SIDU) Selects Exolaunch for Deployment During SpaceX Rideshare Missions

🗣️ Opinion

• Space Moonshots, Pure Play Stocks and Defense Picks To Watch• What Space Investors Are Saying Behind Closed Doors• Rocket Lab ($RKLB): What Is the Price Tag for a Ride to the Moon?• Analyzing the Deployment of BlueWalker 3 ($ASTS)

📅 Calendar

• $ARQQ: December 14 - Before Market Open• $PL: December 14 - After Market Close• $SATL: December 15 - Business Update

*Company confirmed dates only.