Space Exploration Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) shares are trading higher Wednesday. Traders appear to be positioning around the company’s upcoming Starship launch.
- SpaceX stock is among today’s top performers. Why is SPCX stock surging?
Starship’s 14th Flight Set to Attempt First Orbital Mission
Assuming regulators sign off in time, SpaceX plans to send Starship on its 14th flight as early as Tuesday, Sept. 22, with a roughly 75-minute window opening at 8:15 a.m. ET. Every prior flight has deliberately stayed below orbital speed as a safety-first way to gather data, but this attempt would be the first time the vehicle actually tries to circle the planet, a milestone SpaceX views as essential groundwork for eventually making Starship rapidly reusable.
The mission will also carry the first Starlink V3 satellites SpaceX has ever flown, hardware built to meaningfully upgrade the broadband network’s speed and reliability. The plan calls for reaching orbit roughly 275 kilometers up, circling Earth about six times over nearly 10 hours, and splashing down in the Pacific off Chile. Engineers made hardware and software changes aimed at fixing issues from the last flight, when frozen buildup cut short the booster’s boostback burn and only about half the intended engines fired during a rough landing attempt.
This time, the upper stage will attempt its first orbital insertion, release 26 Starlink V3 satellites, fire a single engine to deorbit itself and attempt a controlled splashdown. Each satellite is built to add a full terabit per second of network capacity, roughly 10 times what a single Falcon 9 mission carrying older satellites could deliver. The flight will also test heatshield improvements, including sturdier tile attachments and reused tile panels for the first time.
Cathie Wood has flagged the long-term revenue potential here, estimating each Starship launch could generate roughly $1 billion. At Musk’s stated goal of 10,000 flights a year, that estimate would work out to about $10 trillion annually by 2030, a level that would make SpaceX’s $1.75 trillion IPO valuation look like a bargain in hindsight, Wood said.
Broader Defense and Space Spending Could Be Helping SpaceX Too
Growing government investment in space and defense capabilities may also be contributing to sentiment around SpaceX. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday that Space Force now maintains weaponry stationed in orbit designed to protect American and allied military assets from attack, the first public acknowledgment from the department that such systems exist.
Meink pointed to rapidly evolving, AI-enabled threats as the driving force behind a faster push into autonomous systems and layered satellite networks, noting that a program designed to intercept threats from space went from signed contract to combat-ready hardware in well under 12 months, while a separate satellite network meant to track moving targets from orbit is scheduled to begin launching this month.
While Meink’s remarks centered on Air Force and Space Force programs broadly rather than SpaceX specifically, the emphasis on expanding satellite constellations and space-based defense capabilities points to a broader government spending backdrop that could benefit major space infrastructure providers like SpaceX going forward.
SPCX Shares Jump Wednesday
SPCX Price Action: SpaceX shares were up 6.09% at $152.24 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Image: Samuel Boivin/Shutterstock
