SpaceX set to launch six commercial Moon landers after latest win
SpaceX now has contracts for no less than six Moon lander launches in 2022 and 2023. (ispace/Astrobotic/Masten Space/Intuitive Machines)
After securing yet another contract, SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are now scheduled to launch at least six commercial Moon landers over the next two and a half years.
On May 20th, rocket startup Firefly Aerospace announced that it had selected a SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch its first Blue Ghost Moon lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. While Firefly is preparing to launch its own Alpha rocket for the first time later this year, a rocket that is technically capable of launching Blue Ghost with the help of an electric ‘space tug,’ the company is apparently prioritizing maximum payload delivery and on-time performance.
As a result, Firefly has contracted with a direct competitor to launch its first Moon lander, becoming the sixth company to select SpaceX’s Falcon rockets for that purpose.
Thanks to Firefly’s decision to use Falcon 9 instead of Alpha, the first Blue Ghost spacecraft should be able to deliver up to 150 kg (330 lb) of NASA payloads to the lunar surface – three times more than Alpha would allow. That makes Firefly the sixth Moon-bound company to be won over by the unique combination of affordability and performance offered by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
The first of those missions – Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft – already flew in early 2020 as part of a unique rideshare with a commercial geostationary communications satellite. Unfortunately, the lander suffered an avionics failure just a few minutes before touchdown, causing Beresheet to impact the Moon far too quickly. While it’s no longer clear if that’s still the case, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander may borrow significantly from Beresheet and the lessons Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) learned from the mission’s successes and failures. At the same time, IAI is also working on its own follow-up Moon lander mission.
As part of NASA’s CLPS program, SpaceX has won launch contracts for five of the six landers announced, one of which went to ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. One of those six landers wound up canceling their contract due to corporate issues, leaving SpaceX with four of five CLPS launch contracts. The company is currently on track to launch two Intuitive Machines Nova-C landers on Falcon 9 rockets in Q1 and Q4 2022, Masten Space System’s XL-1 lander in 2022, Firefly’s first Blue Ghost lander on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2023, and Astrobotics first large Griffin lander – carrying NASA’s VIPER Moon rover – on a Falcon Heavy rocket in Q4 2023.
Outside of NASA, Japanese startup ispace has selected SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets to launch its first two commercial Hakuto-R Moon landers, beginning as early as Q4 2022. All told, SpaceX has contracts to launch at least six Moon landers in 2022 and 2023.
Tesla’s 12-month outlook gets $1,000 price tag from bull analyst Dan Ives
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has not had a favorable first quarter and a half on Wall Street in 2021, but Wedbush Securities analyst and Tesla bull Dan Ives believes the stock will cost $1,000 per share in 12 months.
In 2021 so far, Tesla has lost around 20% of its value despite reporting two record-breaking quarters with deliveries and production numbers. Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 gave Tesla their largest three-month periods in company history and extended the automaker’s profitability streak to six and seven consecutive quarters.
Despite the dip in value this year that has affected Tesla, Ives still remains extremely bullish on the stock, predicting a $1,000 price point by this time in 2022.
“I think a year from now, I think we’re looking at a $1,000 stock,” Ives said in an interview with CNBC. “Because, to me, obviously, we’re going through chip shortages, China numbers for April, which we call an unmitigated disaster, it’s just one month. I think if we go out to the green tidal wave, despite all the noise, we’re looking at a stock that a year from now that is $1,000.”
“We do not wave the white flag on the Tesla bull thesis,” Ives concluded.
As the first five months of 2021 come to a close, Tesla investors wonder what it will take for the stock to take an upturn. In the coming months, there are several new developments that Tesla will likely fulfill that should increase the stock’s outlook. These include Model S Plaid Powertrain deliveries (which could eventually lead to another record-setting quarter), as CEO Elon Musk announced will take place on June 3rd with a special delivery event, the release of the Full Self-Driving version 9 Beta release, the possible opening of Giga Berlin, and the eventual rollout of 4680 battery cells that will increase power, range, and performance while limiting cost.
Tech stocks in general have had a tumultuous 2021 in what Ives describes as a “dip” and not a “slide.”
“We continue our multi-year bull thesis on tech. I think the second half of [2020], tech stocks were up 15 or 20 percent,” Ives said. “So I view this as a near-term pullback, not the start of a secular slide or trend. We do not throw in the white towel on our bull tech thesis.”
Ives is ranked #92 out of 7,517 analysts and holds a success rate of 66% with an average return of 29.4%, according to TipRanks. He holds a buy rating for TSLA stock.
At the time of writing, Tesla shares were up more than 2.5%, trading at around $577.60.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
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Tesla Gigafactory UK? Elon Musk’s quick stop in England drives rumors
Tesla factory in Tilburg, Netherlands. (Credit: Tesla)
Rumors of a Tesla Gigafactory in the United Kingdom are surging after a brief visit from CEO Elon Musk in Luton, a town in South East England. Musk made the visit on his way to Germany, where he was set to visit Tesla’s Giga Berlin production facility.
Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk visited Giga Berlin, but he stopped in the UK for a short time, according to his plane tracker. Musk landed at London Luton Airport on May 14th and stayed for two days before loading back up into his Gulfstream G650 and heading off to Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Sunday.
Questions surfaced about the reason for Musk’s two-day stay in the UK, and it may have something to do with a potential UK Gigafactory that could help supplement European demand for Tesla’s electric cars. According to a report from The Telegraph, regional authorities in Teesside and the West Midlands were given 48 hours to prepare a 250-hectare site. The report stated that the entities in control of the land were not informed of who or what was visiting the land or what company would potentially bid on the land that they had prepared.
The communications to the landowners, along with the rest of the process, were set up by the newly-formed Office for Investment, a government office that handles discussions between private foreign investors and the public sector.
Speculation regarding a potential Tesla Gigafactory in the UK started last year in May when a Department for International Trade (DIT) in the UK was leading a search for a plot of land that was big enough to house a large-scale electric vehicle manufacturing facility. A spokesperson for the DIT indicated that it was “working closely with partners to scope out sites for new investment into electric vehicle research, development, and manufacturing across the UK.”
According to the May 2020 report, one business park in Somerset, a county in South West England, attempted to lure Tesla to its 650-acre site, which is slightly smaller than the 740-acre Giga Berlin property, comfortably bigger than Tesla’s Fremont Factory that sits on only 370 acres. Earlier this year, Minister of State for Business Kwasi Kwarteng offered his support for the potential Tesla facility. Kwarteng said that Somerset has the “manufacturing skill and competence to be able to sustain an excellent Gigafactory.”
Neither Tesla nor its CEO Elon Musk has commented on the potential for the UK Gigafactory, nor is it confirmed that either entity is planning to purchase land for a new factory in the region.
Currently, Tesla has five Gigafactories; three of them are currently active: Gigafactory Nevada, Gigafactory Buffalo, and Gigafactory Shanghai are currently active. Gigafactory Berlin and Gigafactory Texas are still under construction, and plans for a new Gigafactory in India have also circulated for the past few months.
Europe is one of the largest markets for electric vehicles, and Tesla could handle demand without issue if it had two Gigafactory facilities in the region. As electric vehicles take off in popularity, Tesla leads the charge globally and plans to expand its already impressive lineup of production facilities will only accelerate the transition to electrification.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, or you can email me at joey@teslarati.com or Tweet me @KlenderJoey.
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