Space Economy

Spire Global, Inc. has been awarded a two-year, $28 million contract by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to advance hyperspectral microwave sounding technology toward operational use for weather forecasting. Under the agreement, Spire will build and qualify a matured satellite and hyperspectral microwave sounder payload through flight readiness, tailored to an orbit supporting NOAA's forecasting needs and enabling analysis of the impact on numerical weather prediction and resilience to radio frequency interference. This award follows Spire's launch of its first-of-its-kind HyMS demonstrator in January 2026 and a $3 million contract extension from NOAA earlier this month for continued evaluation of demonstrator data. The new agreement expands that work, targeting operational capability no later than 2030, and represents a step toward demonstrating that advanced hyperspectral microwave sounding can be delivered from a smaller, commercially developed satellite platform.

TRUE has announced a strategic partnership with AWS to enhance its use of AI and study the deployment of Amazon's low-orbit satellite connectivity service, Leo, to expand broadband coverage in Thailand. After completing its structural cost cleanup, the company is now focusing on driving revenue growth. In the second half of the year, the B2C business continues to show steady growth, while B2B is slowing due to economic conditions. Data usage has increased 21% year-on-year. TRUE continues to maintain strict cost control and is leveraging AI and automation technologies to improve efficiency. The partnership with AWS covers cloud management, AI-powered customer service, and predictive network maintenance. The Leo satellite will serve as a complementary service alongside terrestrial networks and WiFi. Currently, TRUE is in discussions with Amazon Leo to explore ways to offer the service in Thailand.

SpaceX announced plans to invest at least $100 billion in Starbase Louisiana, a 125,000-acre launch complex in Vermilion Parish, with construction starting in 2027 and the first launch targeted for 2029. This investment is about 23 times SpaceX's annual space revenue of roughly $4.35 billion, and it comes as the company's trailing-12-month capital expenditures already total about $42.4 billion. The facility is designed to support thousands of launches annually, and SpaceX's Starlink segment, which generated $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in operating income in 2025, is expected to help fund the project. The move mirrors the broader AI infrastructure boom, with UBS estimating that hyperscalers will spend $4.1 trillion on AI infrastructure from 2026 through 2028, and Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft collectively spending capital equivalent to 102% of their 2026 cloud revenue.

National Telecom Public Company Limited (NT) has launched NT nexConnect, a broadband internet service via low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites from Eutelsat OneWeb, to connect remote areas and signal dead zones. The service initially targets corporate and government customers, with plans to expand to general consumers in early 2027. NT is the official representative of Eutelsat OneWeb in Thailand and uses the domestic Satellite Network Portal (SNP) Gateway infrastructure to support data security. NT also plans to launch NT Rural Wi-Fi in the fourth quarter of 2026, offering hourly coupon packages. Meanwhile, NT clarified that the comparison of service fees with other providers is based on different target groups and conditions: the starting package is 9,200 baht per month (excluding VAT), while the service for the general public is 1,440 baht per month.

Space startups raised more venture capital in the first half of 2026 than during all of last year, as investors concentrated larger checks in companies moving from technical validation toward manufacturing and production. Venture-backed space companies raised $11.3 billion across 244 deals through June, surpassing the $10.1 billion invested across 433 deals in all of 2025, according to PitchBook's 2026 Vertical Snapshot: Space Tech. The increase reflects bigger financings rather than a comparable surge in dealmaking, with the median round more than doubling to $14.5 million from $7 million last year, while venture-growth and late-stage deals captured 87.4% of total investment. Seed funding fell to about 1.5% of capital deployed, the lowest share on record. Money has flowed heavily toward capital-intensive categories: commercial launch companies raised about $3 billion in H1, satellites attracted $2.8 billion, and space infrastructure drew $1.2 billion. Space tech is increasingly being treated as an industrial scale-up market rather than an early-stage technology bet, which is bullish for established companies with contracts and production capacity but raises questions about whether the funding boom is producing enough new companies to sustain the sector's pipeline.

Kuang-Chi Technologies disclosed its 2026 semi-annual report. In the first half, it achieved operating revenue of 1.128 billion yuan, up 19.59% year on year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 319 million yuan. Net cash flow from operating activities was 167 million yuan, up 3.35% year on year. Among these, revenue from the metamaterials industry was 1.123 billion yuan, up 19.66% year on year, while metamaterials research and development revenue surged 197.61% year on year. During the year, the company landed two major contracts in succession. In January, it signed batch production contracts totaling 264 million yuan with four customers. In June, it signed batch production and development contracts totaling 612 million yuan with three customers. The cumulative value of the two orders reached 876 million yuan. Combined with orders carried over from 2025, the company has ample order backlog. In addition, its self-developed metamaterial unmanned aerial vehicle complete aircraft business won its first procurement order worth 1.618 million yuan, and it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Wenchang International Aerospace City Administration to accelerate its expansion into the commercial space sector.

SpaceX's plan to put AI compute in orbit is drawing skepticism from Reddit investors, but the math suggests launch costs could become surprisingly workable if Starship achieves full reusability. The company says its Starmind AI1 satellites will deliver 120 kilowatts of average compute at 70 kilowatts per metric ton, and a fully reusable Starship could cut launch costs by at least 99% from NASA's historical $18,500-per-kilogram benchmark, implying about $185 per kilogram. At AI1's claimed mass efficiency, that translates into roughly $2,640 of launch cost per kilowatt of compute, compared with $10,000 to $40,000 per kilowatt for terrestrial data-center infrastructure. If AI1's non-compute hardware approached the estimated $1 million cost of a Starlink V3 satellite, manufacturing plus launch would be about $11,000 per kilowatt, near the low end of terrestrial costs. Institutional investors appear less concerned, with 119 hedge funds holding long positions in SpaceX as of the second quarter, while short interest reached 207.8 million shares as of July 31, up 25.9% from mid-July.

Lockheed Martin showcased its NetSense Airspace Awareness-as-a-Service system, which uses AI and commercial 5G networks to detect unmanned aircraft systems. The demonstration highlighted potential applications in monitoring airspace around critical infrastructure, public events, and government facilities, in collaboration with partners including Verizon and NVIDIA. Lockheed Martin also extended its multi-launch rocket agreement with Firefly Aerospace and agreed to work together on sea-based launch platforms for responsive space access. The clearest sign of progress will be whether planned pilot deployments in late 2026 and early 2027 convert into recurring NetSense subscriptions with city, state, federal or large commercial customers, alongside concrete task orders under the extended Firefly launch agreement.

SpaceX shares climbed 3% on Tuesday after Elon Musk outlined plans to begin deploying AI-focused satellites in late 2027. The first spacecraft are expected to use Nvidia technology, with Musk projecting that the orbital computing system could reach substantial scale during 2028. SpaceX has also sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission to deploy as many as 1 million satellites equipped for AI workloads. Nvidia was selected earlier this month as the exclusive technology supplier for SpaceX's planned orbital computing infrastructure, with its Vera central processing units expected to provide computing capacity for Grok and future AI agent systems.

SpaceX stock climbed 3% to $139.06 midday Tuesday after Elon Musk said the company's first orbital data center launch would move up to the fourth quarter of 2027, a year earlier than previously planned. JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth maintained an Overweight rating and a $240 price target on SpaceX, implying roughly 75% upside from current levels. Musk said the space-optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 system is being co-designed with NVIDIA for orbital deployment, with significant scale expected in 2028. JPMorgan also said it is increasingly positive on Grok following SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition of AI coding platform Cursor, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. The move was a single-name repricing rather than a sector rotation, as the Procure Space ETF rose just 0.1% and peers like Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile did not participate.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company, in partnership with Nvidia, has designed a space-optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 system for launch to orbit in Q4 next year, with significant scale in 2028. The new timeline moves the first launch of AI-powered orbital data centers forward from a previous 2028 target to the fourth quarter of 2027, with volume launches expected in 2028. The announcement follows Monday's news that SpaceX and Nvidia would deploy NVIDIA Vera processors to power next-generation agentic AI. JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote that from 2029 on, SpaceX is expected to pursue orbital compute toward roughly 75 gigawatts by the end of 2031 at a significantly cheaper cost than on Earth. SpaceX's Starship rocket, still in testing, is slated to carry the satellites into space.

Nvidia announced that SpaceXAI will use its Vera CPUs as the AI company expands computing infrastructure for next-generation agentic applications. SpaceXAI, the former xAI business now operating within SpaceX, plans to build additional capacity around Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform supporting its Grok chatbot. The companies also intend to adapt the Vera Rubin NVL72 system for orbital computing through SpaceXAI's first-generation Starmind satellite. The partnership focuses on workloads in which AI agents need to coordinate software tools, execute code, analyze information and run simulations between model interactions. SpaceXAI expects its infrastructure footprint to grow toward gigawatt-scale capacity, and Nvidia said the common Vera Rubin architecture could allow that computing system to extend beyond conventional data centers and support future operations in space.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest bought roughly $28 million of SpaceX during the Aug. 17-21 week, making it the firm's largest purchase while it sold tens of millions of dollars of Roblox, Palantir and Advanced Micro Devices. ARK purchased 205,031 SpaceX shares, topping about $25 million of Cerebras Systems and $22.8 million of Nvidia. SpaceX's second-quarter revenue surged 92% year over year to $7.8 billion, led by Starlink and AI, though quarterly capital expenditures reached roughly $18.4 billion. ARK sold approximately $49 million of Roblox, $34.5 million of Palantir and $31 million of AMD.

SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile, and Rocket Lab shares fell on Monday despite President Trump's memo targeting at least 1,000 launches and re-entries annually by 2030. SpaceX stock dropped 3% to $133.48, AST SpaceMobile fell 3% to $66.85, and Rocket Lab slipped 2% to $71.22, while the Procure Space ETF declined just 0.4% to $45.75. Rocket Lab CFO Adam Spice said a successful Neutron test launch would flip the company to meaningfully adjusted EBITDA positive the following quarter, but CEO Peter Beck warned the window for an end-of-year launch is narrowing. The memo directs agencies to identify federal land for new launch and re-entry sites, name a new federal re-entry site within 90 days, expedite permitting, speed environmental reviews, and secure wireless spectrum.

IonQ's Skyloom Global announced that dozens of additional optical communication terminals have been successfully deployed on orbit, bringing the total to 84 installations. The terminals were aboard York Space Systems satellites supporting the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, launched July 16, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. This latest deployment builds on the previous OCTs launched during SDA's first Tranche 1 mission in September 2025, resulting in several dozen OCTs on orbit. The achievement represents one of the largest operational lasercomm payload footprints in low-Earth orbit.

The Tsumagoi Village Agricultural Cooperative, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Dentsu began an experimental initiative on the 24th to use satellite data to predict the supply and price of Tsumagoi Village's specialty cabbage, linking this to in-store sales promotion and advertising.

President Donald Trump signed a memo Thursday directing federal agencies to dramatically ramp up commercial rocket activity, setting a target of at least 1,000 launches and re-entries annually by 2030, according to Reuters. Last year's total sat at 178 launches, already 10 times the 2013 figure, so reaching 1,000 would mean roughly a fivefold jump from current levels. The memo directs agencies to look at federal land for new launch and re-entry sites, calls for a new federal re-entry site to be identified within 90 days, and tells officials to expedite permitting, speed up environmental reviews, and secure adequate wireless spectrum for launches. SpaceX carried out 170 launches in 2025 and deployed about 2,500 satellites, and the company said in January it wants to eventually field a constellation of one million satellites to help power AI data centers from orbit, while the FAA's chief said in May that SpaceX aims to hit 10,000 annual launches within five years. Rocket Lab offers a smaller but growing alternative and could see incremental launch volume as agencies push to diversify beyond a single dominant provider. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios framed the memo as a commercial-first approach, pairing the launch targets with a broader lunar and Martian push, and Trump wants American astronauts back on the moon by 2028 with initial Moon Base elements by 2030.

Rocket Lab's stock may be 38% undervalued according to a Discounted Cash Flow analysis by Simply Wall St, which estimates intrinsic value at about $117 per share. The company recently won a $12 million U.S. Space Force contract for secure satellite communications, supporting long-term cash flow expectations despite a trailing twelve-month free cash flow loss of about $370.5 million. However, Rocket Lab trades at a price-to-book ratio of about 12.4x, well above the Aerospace & Defense industry average of roughly 3.1x and even above closer space infrastructure peers at about 20.0x. Simply Wall St's broader valuation checks give Rocket Lab a score of 3 out of 6, indicating a mixed picture rather than a clear bargain or overvaluation.

Rocket Lab has secured a prime position on the US Space Force NITE-STAR IDIQ contract, making it eligible to compete for task orders in a nearly US$1 billion advanced space test infrastructure program. The company was also selected by Viasat to build a secure mini-GEO satellite bus for the Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global military communications constellation. Both awards expand Rocket Lab's role in US defense and space operations and create the potential for substantial multi-year revenue opportunities in secure government space systems.

Space Exploration Technologies beat Wall Street revenue estimates in its first earnings report since its record June IPO, but shares fell as much as 8% in extended trading as capital expenditures soared past expectations. Revenue came in at $7.81 billion, up 92% from a year earlier and above the $6.93 billion analysts expected, while the company lost 9 cents a share versus an expected 26 cents. Capital spending jumped more than sixfold to $18.4 billion, with $15.8 billion going to AI alone, more than double the prior quarter and above the $13.22 billion analysts expected. CEO Elon Musk pledged SpaceX would build its AI data centers exclusively with Nvidia chips, sending Nvidia shares up about 2% even as SpaceX's own stock fell. Starlink revenue rose 66% to $4.29 billion with operating income of $1.66 billion, while AI revenue surged roughly 250% to $2.56 billion, and CFO Bret Johnsen said AI capital deployment is already generating less than a one-year payback.

Rocket Lab has secured a $266 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to provide around a dozen suborbital launches, with an option for more, marking the company's largest launch contract award ever. The first launch is expected by the end of 2026. Earlier this year, the Pentagon awarded Rocket Lab a $190 million contract to support hypersonic flight testing, and the company is working with RTX on the proposed Golden Dome missile defense initiative. Hedge fund sentiment was mixed in the first quarter, with the number of funds holding Rocket Lab shares dipping to 43 from 45, though Marshall Wace raised its stake by 1,213% to $120.8 million and Tudor Investment Corp opened a new position of about $27.3 million.

Intuitive Machines reported second-quarter revenue of $206 million, more than four times what it brought in a year earlier, and closed the quarter with a record $1.8 billion in backlog. The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance of $900 million to $1 billion in revenue and said it still expects positive adjusted EBITDA for 2026. Intuitive Machines logged $1.7 billion in bookings so far this year, including $1.2 billion in the second quarter alone, the highest quarterly total in company history. Operating loss widened to $47 million, driven by higher SG&A, amortization, and a $14.7 million cost adjustment tied to the IM-4 lunar lander program. The company raised $235 million in net proceeds this quarter through its at-the-market stock program, bringing total gross proceeds raised to date to $291 million at an average price of $26.81 a share.

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said the company's planned $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications will expand its satellite communications business without directly competing with Elon Musk's Starlink or Amazon's Leo. In a CNN interview, Beck emphasized Iridium's L-band spectrum, which can penetrate bad weather and buildings, and said Rocket Lab could eventually provide something new and unique that hasn't been seen before. He also highlighted defense opportunities and the ability to replace damaged satellites within hours using a low-Earth orbit constellation. The news comes as Rocket Lab was onboarded to the United States Space Force's NITE-STAR program, a $981 million contract vehicle supporting space test and training infrastructure.

Starcloud, the company pioneering data centers in space, announced a $250 million Series A extension funding round at a $2.3 billion post-money valuation. The round was led by Manhattan West, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, EQT, Soma, NFX, 776, and others, alongside new investors NVIDIA, Cisco Investments, Cedar Capital, Goanna Capital, Standard Capital, and others. The funding brings Starcloud's total capital raised to $450 million since its founding in 2024. Starcloud and NVIDIA are collaborating on the NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin Module, building on the company's November 2025 flight of the first NVIDIA H100 GPU to orbit aboard its Starcloud-1 satellite. The additional capital will fund continued buildout of manufacturing capacity, engineering work in collaboration with NVIDIA, and procurement of future launch allocation.

Against the backdrop of crowded trading in A-share technology hot sectors and amplified short-term volatility, institutions recommend that investors shift their attention to three major sectors: the low-altitude economy, humanoid robots, and commercial aerospace, seizing pullback windows to position at lower levels. CICC believes that the intensive rollout of low-altitude economy policies is resonating with technological iteration across the industry chain, and expectations for an industry inflection point are gradually strengthening. Guoyuan Securities analyst Gong Siwen suggests focusing on whole-machine names such as Wanfeng Auto Wheel, EHang, JOUAV, and Lvneng Huichong, as well as core component names such as Zongshen Power, Wolong Electric Drive, Yingliu Shares, and Inpower. On the humanoid robot front, Unitree Robotics recently entered the capital market and is expected to provide a clearer valuation anchor for the sector, driving a shift in capital from pure thematic speculation to growth-based pricing. Huayuan Securities analyst Zhao Mengni suggests focusing on Everwin Precision, Foresight Technology, Sanhua Intelligent Controls, Tuopu Group, Leader Harmonious Drive, Shuanghuan Transmission, Hengli Hydraulic, Zhejiang Rongtai, Moons' Electric, and Zhaowei Machinery & Electronics. In commercial aerospace, the Long March 10B and Zhuque-3 have successively completed successful recoveries, and reusable rocket technology is maturing. With falling launch costs resonating with demand for low-orbit constellation networking, industrialization is expected to accelerate. Guotai Haitong Securities analyst Yang Tianhao suggests focusing on Chengchang Technology, Tongyu Communication, Sunway Communication, Shanghai Hanxun, Aerospace Electronics, Feiwo Technology, Sirui Advanced Materials, and Western Metal Materials.

L3Harris Technologies and Intuitive Machines reported sharply different second-quarter 2026 financial results, underscoring the contrast between a mature defense prime and a fast-growing commercial space firm. L3Harris posted revenue of $5.9 billion, up 8% year over year, with net income of $600 million and diluted EPS of $3.13, while raising its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $23.2 billion to $23.7 billion. Intuitive Machines saw revenue surge more than fourfold to $206 million, but recorded an operating loss of $47 million and an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $14 million, even as its backlog reached a record $1.8 billion. The two companies are partners on the Space Development Agency's Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3 mission, where Intuitive Machines will build 18 satellite platforms for L3Harris payloads. Hedge fund ownership rose for both stocks in the first quarter of 2026, with L3Harris held by 59 funds and Intuitive Machines by 30.

Rocket Lab Corporation successfully launched its Electron rocket to deploy the latest Earth-imaging satellite for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. The mission, named 'The Lightning God Defends', lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 1:04 a.m. NZST on August 21, 2026, and placed the next QPS-SAR satellite into a 575km low Earth orbit. This was Rocket Lab's 93rd overall Electron launch and 14th launch of the year, and the ninth deployment of a QPS-SAR satellite with 100% mission success. Nine dedicated launches remain booked on Electron by iQPS to deliver their constellation to space by 2030.

Satellite-constellation developer Muon Space has raised $250 million in a Series C funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to a source familiar with the matter. The round was led by Eclipse Capital, with participation from Alphabet's Google, Salesforce Ventures and Wellington Management, bringing Muon's total equity funding to more than $386 million. The company launched seven satellites in the first half of 2026, bringing its total to 11 deployed across six launches with a 100% mission success record. Muon recently opened a manufacturing facility in San Jose designed to produce up to 500 satellites annually by 2027, as it works through a backlog of more than 50 satellites in development for customers. CEO Jonny Dyer said much of the new capital will go toward scaling the workforce and building out infrastructure at the new factory, and that the startup is weighing a public listing as early as next year, though an IPO in 2027 is unlikely because the company needs greater revenue visibility.