The Next Space Race

Editor's note: A new space race is underway... and it could revolutionize how we send and receive data. In this issue, adapted from his Stansberry Venture Technology newsletter, Dave Lashmet explains how satellites are redefining the Internet – and the pros and cons of one of the best-known companies trying to race to the top.

The space race started with a "beep."

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite into space.

Sputnik 1 orbited Earth every 90 minutes... and emitted a series of "beeps" while passing overhead. Radio operators on the ground quickly broadcast the sound around the world.

It stoked America's worst fears. The Soviet Union had beaten us to space and was winning the technological arms race.

A few months later, the U.S. launched its own satellite and created NASA. But the Soviets continued to lead the way, sending the first person into orbit around the Earth.

So on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the U.S. to be the first nation to have a man walk on the moon. And on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong did just that.

But the space race wasn't just about reaching the moon. It also sparked innovation in countless industries...

Solar panels, artificial limbs, infrared thermometers, digital photography, and GPS are just a few of the advances we've seen thanks to the space race and NASA.

Today, we're seeing the next space race... and it could transform the Internet itself. But the story is more complicated than most investors know.

You see, Europe, China, the U.S. Space Force, and telecom companies are building satellite networks to provide high-speed Internet from space.

So is SpaceX – one of the world's best-known space companies. Its reusable Falcon rockets have slashed costs and increased the pace of space launches. And its Starlink constellation of satellites has brought the Internet to tens of thousands of folks in remote areas.

Starlink satellites are like 4G cellular towers floating in space... But each satellite has a narrow range, serving only a few thousand users.

So Starlink works great on land, especially in remote areas. But in populated areas like New York City or Washington, D.C., the coverage isn't enough to meet demand.

Another problem for Starlink is that around 70% of Earth's surface is water. And many Starlink satellites can't reach a ground station while over the ocean.

In 2018, SpaceX got approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to use the V-Band of the wireless spectrum. V-Band has billions of waves per second – beyond ultrahigh frequency – so you can send billions of bytes wirelessly.

V-Band is disrupted by weather, so it doesn't work on Earth... But it's ideal for space communications. Weather can't interrupt the V-Band above 50,000 feet.

In 2022, SpaceX changed its Starlink constellation plan to use V-Band on specialized satellites. The FCC gave SpaceX until July 2027 to launch these satellites and fully use the V-Band... and required half the new satellites to be launched by July 2024. Basically, SpaceX needed to use its V-Band spectrum or lose it.

So that's what SpaceX did. In 2023, it launched 43 missions to put V-Band satellites in orbit, with up to 23 satellites per launch. That's more than 900 satellites. Since January 2024, SpaceX has launched hundreds more satellites with V-Band radios.

Since July 2024, these satellites have been used to offer free Internet connectivity to air passengers over the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to go further... But so far, Starlink's satellites are not optimized for his plans.

But a better technology is out there – a way to offer secure communications that can reach farther than V-Band. One small company has a first-mover advantage in this space... And its project will move 10 times more data, at a price 10 times cheaper than SpaceX's.

It presents an exciting opportunity for investors as the next space race heats up. I'll share more details on June 4.

Good investing,

Dave Lashmet

Editor's note: Dave has found multiple winners in the aerospace and defense sectors. Now he believes he has found another one in the satellite build-out. But it's not the SpaceX IPO. It's a smaller, lesser-known company that could play a critical role in transmitting data to and from satellites.

Get the full details on June 4... and learn how to position yourself to profit from this new shift in Internet infrastructure.