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Have you heard the news yet? I bet you have. Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the company that started producing paper in Finland, evolved to become the largest cell phone company in the world, then lost that franchise and refocused on telecom infrastructure, just won a $ 14 million contract! with NASA to build a 4G wireless cell phone network on the moon!
Integrated into a lunar landing spacecraft that will reach the moon in 2022, Nokia’s central 4G system will allow lunar rovers (arriving later) to communicate with their base camp and from there with the orbiting spacecraft and the Earth itself. That’s pretty impressive, but the Nokia contract was just one of 15 total contracts NASA awarded last week, totaling $ 370 million in combined value.
These are some of those other contracts that you may have lost.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lockheed Martin – $ 90 million
Lockheed martin (NYSE: LMT) It is the world’s largest pure defense contractor and also one of NASA’s top 10 contractors for dollars awarded. It’s not too surprising, then, to learn that the largest of NASA’s 15 “Tipping Point” contracts awarded last week went to the aerospace giant. For $ 89.7 million, Lockheed will carry out a mission in space that will demonstrate how hydrogen can be used in “more than a dozen cryogenic fluid management technologies” that could be used in future space missions.
United Launch Alliance – $ 86 million
NASA’s second-largest Tipping Point contract also went to Lockheed Martin, in part. Lockheed, in cooperation with its partner Boeing (NYSE: BA), owns half of the United Launch Alliance (ULA), and for $ 86.2 million this joint venture of space giants will demonstrate the use of a hydrogen and liquid oxygen cryogenic propulsion system in the upper stage of its new Vulcan Centaur rocket.
SpaceX – $ 53 million
ULA’s archrival in space, the private company SpaceX, won NASA’s third-largest contract. For $ 53.2 million, Elon Musk’s pioneering space company will demonstrate its ability to refuel in space by transferring 10 tons of liquid oxygen between tanks contained within its new Starship spacecraft.
In future years, this technology is what SpaceX would use to, for example, put Starships into orbit and then resupply them from “tanker” Starships shipped expressly for this purpose. Once its viability is proven, this technology will not only allow SpaceX spacecraft to travel directly to destinations like the Moon and Mars. It will also facilitate the development of in-orbit satellite refueling services, such as those that are starting Northrop Grumman and Momentus that will soon be public.
Maxar Technologies – $ 9 million
Dropping drastically on the value scale now, tiny Maxar Technologies (New York Stock Exchange: MAXR) is a specialist in space hardware and satellite imagery services (photography of the Earth). It has also won key contracts to help build NASA’s proposed Lunar Gateway, which will orbit the moon. Maxar’s latest contract award with NASA, also one of Tipping Point’s contracts, gives the company $ 8.7 million to develop a new lightweight robotic arm for use both on the surface of the moon and in service operations of satellites in orbit. (See above.)
Teledyne – $ 3 million
Finally, in a nod to fans of the “hydrogen economy” and investors in renewable energy here on Earth, NASA has awarded Teledyne (NYSE: TDY) $ 2.8 million to develop a hydrogen fuel cell system capable of operating for 10,000 hours (that is, if supplied with enough fuel).
What does this all mean for investors?
Other companies landed other contracts, of course, including Masten Space Systems, which made $ 10 million to advance the development of a prototype lunar lander, and Intuitive Machines (which we’ve written about previously), which got a great deal. $ 41.6 million contract amount for their lunar lander. But the above list covers all Tipping Point award winners who are already publicly traded or approaching a point where they could go public and be available for public investment. If you are interested in investing in the space economy, these companies offer some of the most immediate ways to do so.
More broadly, however, the technologies that NASA is funding through these particular contracts, with these Business, show promise to enable even more space economy services that may be offered by other companies in future years, services such as repairing satellites in orbit and refueling, for example, which could reduce the cost of providing Internet and other communications services from space. by extending the life of the satellites.
In that regard, even if you are not interested in investing in today’s winners, it is worth keeping an eye on what they are doing and the new possibilities they are opening up.
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