🚀 Starlink India Halted

🚀 Starlink India Halted

January 07, 2022

The Space Scoop

Week Ending 01.07.2022

Happy Friday and Happy New Year! A warm welcome back to all our readers. This week's newsletter will cover our usual past week and important items we weren't able to fill you in from last week. Lets dive in.

Market Max-Q 📈

Indices:SPY -1.9% | QQQ -4.5%UFO -2.2% | ROKT +0.7%ARKX -4.7% | SSIT -0.6%This Week's Movers: VSAT +5.5% | ASTR -11.5%BKSY -12.7% | SPIR -13.3%SIDU -15.8% | ARQQ -22.1%

Top Stories 🚀 

Firefly Aerospace Undergoing Leadership Changes

Majority shareholder Max Polyakov has agreed to sell his stake in the rocket startup amidst U.S. national security concerns. The reason? "Fears that valuable technology could make its way to Ukraine, Russia or other nations trying to develop rocket programs." Polyakov resurrected Firefly from bankruptcy in 2017, pouring $200M into the company. He previously stepped down from the board and day-to-day activities in late 2020, but that has not been enough to satisfy concerns. The U.S. government has also halted the company's rocket launch operations at Vandenberg.

SpaceX's New Funding

The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it raised $337.4M in equity financing last Wednesday. This brings SpaceX's total 2021 funding amount to $1.85B and follows Musk's large scale selling of Tesla ($TSLA) shares. Could he be behind this? Is it likely he is transitioning capital from one company to the other?

Hughes and Airtel Form JV

Hughes Communications India ($SATS) and Bharti Airtel, an communications solution provider, announced the formation of a Joint Venture to provide satellite broadband services in India. The entity combines the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) businesses of both companies, totaling over 200,000, to create the largest satellite service operator in India. The JV was formerly announced in May 2019, but has officially been formed following all statutory approvals. 

Starlink's Country Director & Chairman of India Resigns

After four months on the job, Sanjary Bhargava announced in a LinkedIn post that he stepped down on December 31st due to personal reasons. Upon joining, his goal included 200,000 terminals in service by the end of 2022. Since then, SpaceX was directed by the Indian government to halt pre-orders as it did not obtain an Indian operating license yet. It is expected to issue refunds to those who have signed up so far.

Virgin Orbit Rings the NASDAQ Opening Bell

Following shareholder approval on December 28th, $NGCA officially became $VORB on December 30th. Today, the company rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ. Richard Branson could not attend due to COVID, but joined CNBC to discuss. While full details were not disclosed regarding the redemption rate, the company appeared to have raised less than planned. The original announcement expected $383M raised via SPAC funds, but following a later announced Virgin Group $100M investment, it is estimated only $68M was finalized from SPAC funding. Shares finished the day +24.2% higher.

In Other News 🛰️ 

PLD Space Raises $28M Series B Round 

The Spain-based small satellite launch provider has now raised over $50M. The round was led by Arcano Partners, Aciturri and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

AST Space Mobile Provides Inside Look at New Factory 

In a part-informative, part-cheesy video, $ASTS took investors behind the scenes of their Midland, TX headquarters. We saw the companies assembly clean room to its thermal, vibration and radiofrequency testing facilities.

Satellogic and Descartes Labs Announce

 

Descartes Labs' customers will be to combine $CFV's high-resolution data with sub-meter geospatial intelligence, run time series analyses and automate the analytics process as a part of their workflow.

HawkEye360 Increases Series D Raise 

The previously announced round will now grow to $150M with Leidos' $5M addition. The two companies will enter into a strategic partnership to develop advanced collaborative analytics.

Paragon Space To Acquire Final Frontier Design 

The supplier of life support services for the commercial space announced the definitive agreement for an undisclosed amount. FFD is a supplier of spacesuits and ancillary components, with a Space Act Agreement for NASA's IVA suit.

Quick Links 🔗

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Kerrisdale Capital Releases Short Selling Report on Astra ($ASTR)

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CF Acquisition V ($CFV) Adjourns Again To Negotiate Potential Additional PIPE Financing

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Gilat ($GILT) Announces New Chief Financial Officer

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Orbit Communications Acquires Euclid Systems Engineering

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Scott Van Vliet Joins Relativity Space To Expand ‘Factory Operating System’

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Ovzon Receives $9.8M Contract With Italian Fire and Rescue Service

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Iridium ($IRDM) Names Manjula Sriram as VP & Chief Information Officer

• BlackSky ($BKSY) Announces Aly Bonilla As Vice President of Investor Relations• Voyager Space Completes Acquisition of Space Micro• Boeing ($BA) and Titomic Partner For Sustainable Titanium 3D Printing• Kevin O’Connell Joins Rogue Space Systems Advisory Board• L3Harris ($LHX) and Maxar ($MAXR) Named Top 2022 Defense Ideas at Baird• Wedbush Initiates Coverage On Planet ($PL) with Outperform Rating and $10 Target• Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) Price Target Lowered to $32 from $50 at Truist Securities

Opinion 🗣️

• Where the Space Industry Is Headed in 2022• What Will It Take for Space Stocks To Win Over Investors in 2022?• In 2022, the New Space Race Will Get More Heated, Crowded and Dangerous• Space SPACs Look To Rebound in 2022• Virgin Orbit ($VORB) De-SPAC Complete and Trading at 47% Discount to Peers• Redwire ($RDW): The Face Of Space Exploration Over The Next Decade• Estimating The Fair Value Of Rocket Lab ($RKLB)

Calendar 📅

• $CFV: Merger Vote - 1/24 11:00am EST• $LMT: Q4'21 Earnings - 1/25 11:00am EST• $NOC: Q4'21 Earnings - 1/27 BMO

Chart of the Week 📊

Winners: ARQQ +149.5%, RKLB +19.2%Losers: SPIR -66.5%, MNTS -75.8%