In December 2023 I touched down at Kennedy Space Center.
It wasn’t Space Camp— I was there to take a look at the Starfighters operation.
We passed by the SpaceX and Blue Origin sites, and then were blown away by the Vehicle Assembly Building, the largest single story structure on the planet.
See that flag? That’s the area of a football field.
Starfighters has an incredible story. While SpaceX is trying to manufacture reusable rockets, Starfighters have already solved the problem.
You just take the rocket, then add wheels and a pilot.
Boom. Reusable.
The company takes modified AMRAAM missiles and sticks some satellites in them. They then take their fighter jets, get to Mach 2, and shoot the satellites into the sky.
Then the pilot lands the “rocket.”
Of course, payload limits their customer base, but Space Is Big. Their TAM is increasing each month.
At the time of this writing, they still have an Active RegA offering. I like the play, but you should do your own research and understand the risk profile of a RegA investment.
I’m bringing this company up because of a recent pivot they made.
They have built out a massive presence in Midland, Texas.
They aren’t the only ones. At least 11 aerospace companies have moved to the Midland International Air & Space Port.
I hope you stumbled over that sentence, because I did when I read it.
Why does the heart of the Permian Basin… Oil Country… have a Space Port?
The New Corridor Boomtown
A month ago, the DoD announced that they are on the hunt for “hypersonic corridors” so they can quickly test missiles. I’ve been wary of our lead in hypersonics because of some Chinese tests a few years back, so it’s a solid strategic bet.
Legislators are jockeying for their constituents to get in on the action.Because if you’re at an endpoint, then the locals are going to rake it in.
In 2023, Senator Mike Lee proposed a hypersonic corridor from Edwards AFB up into Utah.
There’s not been movement on that route yet.
But there’s enough positioning that the Vandenberg – Midlands corridor is going to open up.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Midlands could be the new Austin. Hot, flat and crowded.
Two Plays At The Ends of The Corridor
One other player in Midlands is AST Space Mobile. They’re building out broadband cellular.
In space.
The stock caught some hard momentum in May 2024. Well over a 10 bagger.
Since then it’s been dead money. You had profit takeovers, then momentum chasers, and way too many people trying to play the breakout.
But it’s heating up, and it feels like the timing is good.
There’s been sticky sellers from $28-30, if they clear out, then don’t be shocked if you see this one at $50 before summer’s over.
I’ve got another satellite play, this time from the other side of the corridor.
Planet Labs is an imaging company that primarily launches out of Vandenburg AFB. I’ve been bullish on this for a while, and they just had a solid earnings report.
(In case you didn’t know, I go live on twitter and youtube on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 12PM. You should stop by sometime.)
The stock caught a nice earnings spike on good news. They beat revenue estimates and are now at positive free cash flow.
This is still a busted up SPAC deal, but I’m optimistic about the momentum if it can take hold. Stock’s under $5, with a fast push you’ll see $7… if it can break that then it’s game on.
It’s about to get weirder. Again.
There’s accelerating stakes in drone attacks, robotics are about to have a massive step up, and nuclear is going to melt up instead of meltdown.
The markets can’t easily price this in. It’s moving too fast and the markets don’t have enough liquidity for large participants to react to these trends. But we have an early warning system that helps us spot high-potential entries based on the best market edge you can get… click here and I’ll show you how it works in a video training.
