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Korean Growth & Space Investor, RKLB/TSLA/PLTR/SPCX
NASA's new Moon Base initiative is solid government demand for lunar companies such as Firefly, Intuitive Machines and Voyager. NASA picked Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Firefly for CLPS missions, awarding Firefly $144.2 million and Intuitive Machines $148.3 million for one lander delivery each, and the opportunities arising on the Moon keep growing. x.com
Firefly Aerospace's influence in NASA's CLPS lunar program is growing, while Intuitive Machines lacks the moat to stay ahead of it. Firefly's launch business needs more patience, but its vertical integration of lunar-orbit communications and landers, plus its own launch option in one to two years, gives it the edge in the lunar economy. x.com
Firefly Aerospace's thesis was never just rockets, as it won a $75M NASA JPL subcontract to deliver four drones to the Moon's south pole for MoonFall, the first phase of NASA's Moon Base initiative. Its Elytra spacecraft uses the same proven systems that landed Blue Ghost, and the award adds to three other CLPS Moon missions on its manifest. A 12M-share offering at $49.50 brings the company $190M of fresh cash. x.com
Space stocks can create generational wealth this year, and five of them can 10x. AST SpaceMobile has its direct-to-phone constellation and AT&T and Verizon deals; Rocket Lab has Electron launches, Neutron and a space-systems backlog; Firefly Aerospace has Alpha and Eclipse rockets and the Blue Ghost lander; SpaceX has Starship, Falcon, Starlink and AI compute; Intuitive Machines has NASA lunar landers and an infrastructure pipeline. All five grew trailing revenue 53% to 2,257%. x.com x.com
No rocket or space company anywhere makes money, making the 'space is the future' investment pitch a bad bet. SpaceX is shown at -$4.9B; Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile, Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace and Planet Labs also have negative figures, ranging from -$131.20M to -$618.76M. x.com
Intuitive Machines' latest NASA award matters less for its size than for what it signals: NASA keeps accelerating. Its share of a roughly $17M contract, split among seven companies, to develop Mars advanced surface mobility technology is small, but it adds to the pattern of contract acceleration as controlling space becomes a geopolitical priority. x.com
Firefly Aerospace could be the next Rocket Lab, trading at 12.5x forward EV/revenue versus Rocket Lab's 43x despite lunar capability Rocket Lab lacks. It is the only private company to land cleanly on the Moon, and SciTec defense software is 40% of revenue. 2026 guidance of $435M means 170% growth, with 80% under contract, $893M of cash and three more Blue Ghost missions worth $487M. As SpaceX turns to the Moon ahead of its IPO, Firefly is the only proven lunar surface vendor. x.com
Firefly Aerospace's launch vehicle is unreliable and plagued with delays. Firefly was slated to launch the Jackal in the US military space exercise covered by @arstechnica but failed to do so, and SpaceX had to fill in. x.com
Intuitive Machines is shifting from one-time lunar deliveries to high-margin recurring revenue, which matters more than the near-term pressure from capital rotating into SpaceX's IPO. Its Q1 backlog hit a record $1.1B, giving high visibility on 2026 revenue guidance of $900M-$1B. Its NASA Near Space Network work could make lunar missions pay to use its relay network, and the Goonhilly deal adds 44+ deep-space antennas. Short interest at 26.5% of float could fuel a squeeze on contract wins. x.com
Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace are two faces of the same coin, so Firefly winning NASA's first rover selection is only a temporary setback for Intuitive Machines. NASA is spreading contracts across suppliers to boost competition and maximize its chances of success, so one rover award does not change either company's profile. Both are meant to succeed, and wild swings are not a broken thesis. x.com x.com
Firefly Aerospace has two growth engines, space commercialization and accelerating defense spending, backed by high revenue visibility. NASA lunar missions drive recurring demand for its Blue Ghost lander, smallsat constellations need dedicated Alpha launches, and its SciTec unit supports missile defense, including Golden Dome. Its $1.3B+ backlog, over 60% government, covers 80% of 2026 revenue of $420-450M, and in-house rockets, landers and AI software make it a one-stop mission provider. x.com
Firefly Aerospace looks very attractive at about $27 a share, a $4.5B market cap, after a 53% fall since May, because a high-margin AI and data business is hiding inside the space stock. Blue Ghost 1 returned 120GB of lunar data and NASA ordered $10M more. On Blue Ghost 2, Firefly's Ocula imaging runs Nvidia Jetson in lunar orbit, the first edge AI around the moon, with SciTec software on top and a five-year Elytra mission. In-space data processing is the near-term orbital AI opportunity. x.com
