Space SPAC Index – Planet Labs’ Stock Falls on Lower Forecast, Astra Space Splits Stock

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this week’s edition, Planet Labs stock fell after its earnings report, Astra Space voted to split its stock to avoid delisting, BigBear.ai and BlackSky won contracts, five space SPACs had hardware on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission, Spire Global teamed with an insurance company, a Redwire solar array was installed on the International Space Station, and Caltech demonstrated power beaming in space on a Momentus spacecraft.

Planet Labs’ stock falls

Shares of Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) fell sharply last week after the company lowered its fiscal year 2024 revenue guidance and reported first-quarter results. The stock had been trading at $4.96 before the company reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday. The stock closed at $3.53 on Tuesday.

Planet Labs said it expects to earn between $225 million and $235 million, a reduction from the previous estimate of $248 million to $268 million. The satellite imagery and data analytics company also said it expected a wider adjusted EBITDA loss of $58 million to $67 million, an increase from the previous guidance of between $37 million and $47 million.

Planet Labs reported first-quarter revenue of $52.7 million, which was a 31 percent increase over the same period last year. The company’s net quarterly loss was $34.4 million, a decrease from $44.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. Planet Labs had $376 million of cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, and no debt when the quarter ended on April 30.

Astra Space votes to split stock

Launch provider Astra Space (Nasdaq: ASTR) voted to split its stock at a ratio ranging from 1-for-5 to 1-for-15 in order to raise its stock price to $1. In April, Nasdaq gave the struggling company an additional 180 days – until October 2 – to get its stock to that level to avoid being delisted. The stock closed at $0.40 on Tuesday.

BigBear.ai wins contract extension

BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI) has won an $8.5 million contract extension on Phase 2 of the US Army’s Global Force Information Management project. As prime contractor, BigBear.ai will partner with Deloitte, Appian, and Ignite IT in continuing to build an enterprise-wide intelligent automation platform, which will provide the U.S. Army with a holistic view of its global force structure.

On June 8, BigBear.ai entered into an underwriting agreement with Cowen and Company LLC on the sale of 11.8 million shares of common stock. The company is expecting gross proceeds of approximately $25 million before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses.

BlackSky wins $30 million contract

BlackSky Technology (NYSE: BKSY) has been awarded a multi-year contract worth more than $30 million to provide on-demand, real-time high-frequency imagery services to an international defense sector customer.

“BlackSky is an instrumental part of this customer’s day-to-day operations, improving situational awareness through high-frequency, dawn-to-dusk imagery and AI-driven analytics,” said CEO Brian E. O’Toole. “Built upon years of a well-developed partnership, this contract triples this customer’s demand over the next two years.”

BlackSky also registered 6.1 million additional shares of common stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under its equity incentive plan, which is used to reward key employees. In addition, the company registered 4.2 million shares of common stock for its employee stock purchase plan.

Space SPAC satellites launched into orbit

Five space SPACs had satellites or components on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 rideshare mission that launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on June 12.

Satellogic (Nasdaq: SATL) had four NewSat Mark-V next-generation Earth observation satellites on the rocket. The company said its network of 38 microsatellites has 10 times the image collection capability of its competitors and end-to-end vertical integration that enable it to deliver affordable high-frequency and high-resolution imagery.

Spire Global (NYSE: SPIR) said it has made contact with two Lemur-2 CubeSats that are carrying inter-satellite optical communications terminals (OTC) designed to reduce data latency and strengthen security.

“The OCT developed by Spire, which is the smallest on the market, allows for the creation of optical links between satellites that enhance link speeds, security and resiliency to interference such as signal jamming and spoofing. With the OCT, Spire’s satellites will be able to communicate via optical link while up to 5,000 kilometers apart,” the company said in a press release.

The Winnebago-1 spacecraft that Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) built for Varda Space Industries is operating in orbit. Varda’s first space mission is designed to manufacture pharmaceuticals in space and return them to space using a hypersonic reentry capsule. Varda has ordered three additional spacecraft from Rocket Lab.

The RUNNER-1 remote sensing satellite developed by Terran Orbital (NYSE: LLAP) and ImageSat International of Israel was launched on the rideshare mission. RUNNER-1 is a multi-purpose remote sensing satellite capable of sub-meter, high-resolution multi-spectral imaging and color video. The satellite will provide data for the Chilean government.

Redwire’s (NYSE: RDW) ARGUS space domain awareness camera was launched aboard Starfish Space’s Otter Pup satellite. The camera will allow for the first docking of two commercial satellites in low-Earth orbit and the first spacecraft docking using electric propulsion.

Space SPAC Index
June 13, 2023

Spire Global teams with Skyline Partners

Spire Global (NYSE: SPIR) has teamed with insurance provider Skyline Partners to bring the power of satellite observation to parametric insurance. Parametric insurance provides coverage for schedule delays and economic losses that result from extreme weather events. Skyline and Spire will collaborate to develop new risk transfer tools for clients in the marine, aviation, and agricultural sectors.

Redwire Solar Array Installed on Space Station

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg completed a 6-hour and 3-minute spacewalk to install Redwire’s (NYSE: RDW) fifth International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) wing on the orbiting facility. Astronauts will make a final spacewalk to install the sixth and final IROSA at a later time. Each wing provides an additional 28 kW of power once deployed, and all six IROSA wings combined will provide more than 120 kW for over 10 years.

Caltech demonstrates solar power beaming

Caltech’s Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) has demonstrated the ability to wirelessly transmit power in space and beam detectable power to Earth for the first time. The demonstrator’s Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment demonstrated wireless power transfer on March 3. SSPD-1 was launched in January as a hosted payload on Momentus’ (Nasdaq: MNTS) Vigoride 5 orbital transfer vehicle.