$FLY

Zeno Power and Firefly Aerospace agreed to fly a 5-Wt americium-241 radioisotope heating unit on a Blue Ghost lunar mission under NASA's CLPS program, announced August 19, 2025. The unit aims to demonstrate survival through the lunar night, with temperatures dropping to -280°F, using compact nuclear thermal hardware.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), Intuitive Machines (LUNR), Firefly Aerospace (FLY), and EchoStar (SATS) rose in premarket trading after SpaceX's IPO filing highlighted the space economy's potential. SpaceX estimates a $28.5 trillion market opportunity, with significant gains in satellite broadband, AI, and connectivity. ASTS and SATS led premarket gains, with SpaceX targeting a $2 trillion valuation and a $75 billion IPO.

Firefly Aerospace (FLY) gained investor attention after securing a NASA contract for spacecraft processing. The company's stock rose 20.80% in the past month but has declined 50.61% over 90 days and 46.97% over a year. Analysts debate its valuation, with some suggesting it's undervalued at $24.45, citing potential growth in space and defense sectors. However, Firefly faces challenges, including sizable losses and launch reliability issues.

U.S. stock indices rose on Tuesday, led by chipmakers. S&P 500 +0.8%, Nasdaq 100 +1.7%, Dow Jones +0.3%. VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) +3.7%. LUNR, AMZN, XYZ, PLTR, AVAV in focus for specific news. Dow Jones had its best first half in five years.

Firefly Aerospace (FLY) has partnered with Zeno Power Systems to deliver a radioisotope heater unit on a 2028 lunar mission. The technology aims to enable spacecraft to operate during the lunar night, addressing extreme temperature challenges. The mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative and builds on Firefly's previous successful Moon landing in 2025.

Firefly Aerospace (FLY) has partnered with Zeno Power to include a 5-watt americium-241 radioisotope heater on a 2028 Blue Ghost lunar mission. The payload aims to demonstrate technology for operating through the 14-day lunar night, supporting NASA's Moon Base initiative. The mission follows Firefly's successful 2025 lunar landing and upcoming far-side missions.

NASA awarded payload services contracts to Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, L3Harris, and All Points Logistics for future missions, according to the report. It also notes SpaceX is preparing another Starlink launch. The article says SpaceX shares faced resistance and space stocks trended lower early Tuesday.

The U.S. Space Force announced a $981 million, 10-year NITE-STAR award to 15 companies, 13 publicly traded, to support a national space test and training complex. The article lists winners including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris, Rocket Lab, and Viasat, and notes the contract averages about $98.1 million per year.

U.S. stock index futures fell early Tuesday as Middle East tensions, higher Treasury yields and rising crude pushed yields above 5.3% on the 30-year. Analysts split on the S&P 500 outlook. Pre-market movers included META, TSLA, NVDA ahead of earnings, MU down, and ASTS, RKLB, FLY in space. Home Depot earnings were due.

Firefly Aerospace said NASA awarded it a contract to provide spacecraft processing facilities and services for missions launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The deal covers payload processing, fueling, integration and encapsulation, with Firefly’s Payload Processing Facility near Space Launch Complex 2. It also noted existing NASA launch agreements for Quicksounder and INCUS on its Alpha rocket.