SpaceX Holds Pole Position Amid Rival Declines in Space-Stock Race
SpaceX (SPCX) maintained its pole position in this week's space-stock race despite some losses among its rivals. The company's Starship reached orbit on Monday and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, with Elon Musk praising the successful mission.
An upper-stage engine shutdown shortened the planned 10-hour mission to three hours, but SpaceX is on track for three orbital launches in about 13 hours. Musk also expressed optimism that the company could run its version of Nvidia's VR72 system near 250 kilowatts of average power, which would be a significant milestone.
Rocket Lab (RKLB) landed a record deal with Synspective, booking 20 additional launches from 2028 to 2031. The agreement lifted Synspective's total bookings to 47 and Rocket Lab's launch backlog above 100 missions. Meanwhile, ARK bought about $16.5 million in RKLB shares.
AST (ASTS) shipped BlueBirds 14-16 to Cape Canaveral and met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr as the company sought more spectrum for direct-to-device service. The carrier satellite joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon was formalized on Thursday, but existing agreements remain intact.
Planet (PL) launched Google's Suncatcher prototype to test TPUs in orbit, while Redwire signed an MOU with Sophia Space to explore orbital computing. Firefly also signed a commercial agreement to carry Starcloud's computing payload aboard Elytra on a lunar mission targeted no earlier than 2028.