The speed $SPCX is moving to raise capital, merge/make acquisitions coupled with their robust guidance for D2D and orbital data centers points to an untapped market for which they intend to fight ambitiously. D2D: last week SpaceX said the quiet part out loud. They are going to compete directly with MNOs. This effectively put every MNO on notice and forces their hand to make moves decisively and swiftly. Whatever plans they have in place is now going to be pulled forward. For any megatech company watching SpaceX adding over $1T to their market cap, heavily driven by their D2D ambitions, they now have motivation to pursue this untapped market. SpaceX putting a $740B TAM/year on this market, as well as claiming they see the D2D market as eventually surpassing fixed broadband from space by subscriber is a signal that can't be ignored. We know $META sent a team to visit both SpaceX and ASTS headquarters several months ago. They're paying attention. We know $AMZN is scooping up $GSAT, imo, primarily to keep their spectrum out of SpaceX's hands, but they need something else to make it viable D2D solution. We know $GOOG has a sizeable stake in ASTS already and has been collaborating with them for a number of years. Each of these companies do not have a habit of sitting out of a race that has a lot of money at the finish line. $VZ $T and $TMUS recently proposed a joint venture to pool their spectrum specifically for D2D solutions. It was apparent that ASTS was in their inner circle as they had a PR ready to commend the proposal while the rest of the crew was silent. Several SpaceX executives later communicated frustration at the proposal indicating they were either not part of the discussions or realize a joint venture does not benefit them. This latest development points to a potential U.S. MNOs monopoly for ASTS if T-Mobile does create an agreement with ASTS while SpaceX looks more at the direct to consumer approach. Starlink's implied market cap has gone up significantly being driven by their D2D guidance. Mind you, their current constellation is awful, generating speeds in the single digits of mbps. Their next generation is expected to generate speeds of 150mbps. So it's reasonable to say that the market is not pricing in their current constellation but their coming constellation expected as early as mid 2027. ASTS is currently deploying their constellation now into early to mid 2027 with expected speeds at nearly 200mbps. So both SpaceX and ASTS are on pace to have their respective constellations up around the same time. Yet the market wants to price in Starlink's future constellation now and ASTS's later? That narrative can switch very fast. Some have floated the idea of ASTS being a takeover target, and honestly it makes a lot of sense why MNOs and some megatech companies would want to scoop them up. But the implied valuation would have to be enormous with both SpaceX and analysts pointing to $740B TAM/year with rich margins (70%-95%). You do the math and you realize how expensive a buyout would have to be to even get Abel to entertain a deal. Orbital data centers: The push for orbital AI is just as shocking. SpaceX filing for 1M satellites is eyepopping. This itself is another signal to other companies that are pursuing this or considering it. This also can pull forward plans. The demand for solar power generation and cooling in space is significant to meet the demands of orbital compute. Currently, ASTS satellites generate the most power in LEO while also efficiently cooling. Any company looking to pursue orbital data centers needs to either create their own solar and cooling solutions or look at the companies that are already doing it efficiently. While ASTS is not currently involved with any projects for data centers, it's not hard to imagine a situation where a company that is going to pursue this approaches them to either have them build the solar arrays or license the tech for the ultimate passive cash flow play. In other words, multiple parties have a fire lit under them from Musk's latest moves in both D2D and orbital data centers. Everyone knows Musk moves fast and is not shy to spend a lot upfront to position for the next 5-10 years. He now has $85.7B he didn't have just two weeks ago as well as a rich market cap to acquire companies like Cursor, as we just saw this morning. I expect over the next several quarters to see the reaction from MNOs and megatech, and I believe their primary viable option is to work with/invest in ASTS. Starlink's implied market cap today is $1.6-$1.9T while $ASTS trades at $33B. Bears can argue all they want about ASTS' need to execute but they're missing the forest for the trees. There are only two real players in D2D. There is ample room for both and the timelines are irrelevant when the ultimate destination is a $740B TAM/year. *speculation *NFA

$TE: ☀️ Solar is the present and future

$ASTS: The last big strategic round in March 2020 before AST SpaceMobile went public. It’s been a long and rewarding journey culminating in tomorrow’s launch of the first Block-2 Composite BlueBirds, which will transform global broadband connectivity 🚀🚀🚀

T-Minus: BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 are Go for Launch aboard Falcon 9. Launch window opens June 17 at 2:39 a.m. EDT. 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 Getting closer to connecting the unconnected and under-connected worldwide. 🌎📶📱 #ASTSpaceMobile #Broadband #ConnectingtheUnconnected #BlueBirds Watch live: youtube.com/live/zjQieDzQTGo

Everyone is trading a $105M press release. Almost nobody pulled the contracts. I pulled all of them, plus the certificate-transparency logs, the DNS, and the job reqs - $MRLN, with the identifiers so you can check every line. CONTRACTS (FPDS, USAspending) •The “$105M SOCOM C-130J contract” is IDIQ H9240824D0001, “Automated Crew and Workload,” sole-source, period of performance to 2029-04-06. $105M is the ceiling. Obligated: $15.96M, via delivery order H9240824F0010, base $6.74M, modified to $13.08M. That’s roughly $89M of sole-source headroom with three years to order against it. •MDA SHIELD seat, HQ085926DE789, running to 2035-12-28. SHIELD is the $151B multiple-award vehicle behind Golden Dome for America. Merlin is one of 2,440 awardees, drawn $500. A fixed-wing autonomy company now competes for homeland missile-defense task orders in a pool with L3Harris and Blue Origin. •USAF AFWERX OTA FA86492599001, $749,499, signed 2024-10-08. Statement of work, verbatim: “reduced-crew flight operations with NLP-driven real-time dynamic replanning.” CERTIFICATION (certificate-transparency logs) Merlin’s flight-software verification toolchain stood up as private GitHub Pages, each leaving a permanent public certificate. First-seen dates: mfs, the Merlin Flight Software dashboard, on 03-18; then code-prover, bug-finder, and model-hlr-tracing all on 04-10; polyspace-test-coverage on 04-25; mrbt-results-dashboard on 05-05. That is the Polyspace toolchain. Code Prover is formal methods by abstract interpretation, the DO-178C DAL-A path. Add Bug Finder static analysis, MC/DC structural coverage, and high-level-requirements tracing. PDR cleared 03-05, CDR cleared 06-04. The evidence chain was assembled in between, in public. STACK (their own job reqs) C , Rust, ROS, GPU-trained perception and behaviors. ARP4754A, DO-178C, and DO-254 named for flight-critical work, with Simulink, Jama, Cameo, IADS, and Polyspace. The reqs and the cert logs describe the identical toolchain from two unrelated surfaces. THE LLM (three surfaces) A Human-Machine Teaming req opened 2026-02-24. The AFWERX OTA funds NLP-driven replanning. Their apex DNS carries an anthropic-domain-verification token. A language model is in the planning loop. THE PIVOT (Lever timestamps) GM Maritime opened 2025-12-04: own a maritime P&L selling uncrewed maritime ISR to the Coast Guard, Navy, and DHS on the King Air — the same quarter Merlin took the SHIELD seat. Then on 2026-05-18, in a single day, Merlin posted its entire Washington capture org, VP Government Relations included. It sits on $2.42M of Invariant lobbying, ramped 4x, run by the former staff director of the House Armed Services Committee, filed against the FY2026 defense appropriations bill by number. Net: a $105M ceiling read as revenue, a Golden Dome seat to 2035, an Air Force LLM-autonomy OTA, a maritime ISR line live since December, and a DC capture org built in one day to convert all of it. Long $MRLN.

If the last two posts were a lot, here is the zoom-out, and why I spent today building them. $MRLN. Here is the one idea to take away. I did not verify Merlin by trusting Merlin. I verified it from the outside, through other people. Every layer of this company is confirmed by a different independent party that put its own name and reputation on the line. The operating system is Green Hills, certified to the aviation safety standard. The flight computer is CMC. The sensors are Shadin, FAA-approved for the C-130 and the KC-135. The autonomy core is being built with GE Aerospace, whose systems already fly on more than 14,000 aircraft. The customers are US Special Operations, the Air Force, and the missile-defense program behind Golden Dome. And the certification is being audited by a real aviation regulator, on a track shared with the FAA. None of those names attach themselves to a company that is not real. When this many serious and unrelated parties all show up around the same small company, that convergence is the signal. The expired contract everyone fixated on is one line in a much larger build. What a casual investor should walk away with is this. The market is pricing a loser. The evidence, all of it from third parties with no reason to flatter Merlin, points the other way. Long $MRLN.

$RKLB Even more talk about Rocket Lab on Schwab Network yesterday: "If you want to look for a pure play company that's in, of course, launch services as well as spacecraft design and has large customer contracts with DoD and NASA, this is the one." "If you look at KeyBanc's call to an overweight with $135 price target, they still see a compelling growth story for Rocket Lab because of the NASA build-out."

$ASTS: Less than 24hrs... 🚀 Liftoff of the BlueBird 8-10 mission is scheduled for 2:39AM ET.

$ASTS: AST SPACEMOBILE CATALYST SEASON A review of what has been and what is to come Upcoming Catalysts: ☑️BB8 - BB10 Launch on Falcon 9 ☑️BB11 - BB13 Delivery to Florida and Launch on Falcon 9 ☑️$1B J-LEO Japan Project Decision ☑️BB14 - BB16 Delivery to Florida and Launch on Falcon 9 ☑️Block-2 BlueBird batch launches every month ☑️FCC STA to Test 900MHz Military Applications with US Space Development Agency ☑️T-Mobile Definitive Commercial Agreement ☑️Executing MLAs w/ Ariane, Mitsubishi, Relativity and others ☑️Golden Dome (SHIELD Awarded, NOBLE Up Next) ☑️Execution of other DoW, SDA, DIU, and other Military Awards ☑️FirstNet Investment and Definitive Commercial Agreement ☑️FCC Approval of Ligado Modification Application ☑️Execution of more Definitive Commercial Agmts w/ Prepaid Revenue and/or Investment w/ More ~60 global MNOs ☑️Beta Testing w/ AT&T and FirstNet in 2H 2026 ☑️Updates on Google Services Agmt Partnership ☑️Initiation of Research Coverage by JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, others ☑️Expansion of 13x contracts w/ Department of Defense, Space Development Agency, Defense Innovation Unit, Missile Defense Agency and more ☑️FCC 5G Fund grant ☑️Progress on 12 to 32x Block-2 BlueBirds in currently in Production ☑️Proposal for PNT Service Accepted by FCC as Alternative to GPS ☑️Initial Commercial Service w/ AT&T, Rakuten, Verizon, Vodafone in early 2027 ☑️Securing $500M of EXIM and IFC non-dilutive Funding ☑️Pursuit of L- and S-Band Spectrum Licenses Globally ☑️Pursuit of Additional Lowband Spectrum in US ☑️EU Allocation of 2GHz MSS Spectrum to SatCo JV ☑️Strategic Partnerships and Investments to Focus on AI Data Center Opportunity ☑️Catalysts the SpaceMob have yet to Contemplate Recently Completed Milestones: ✅Brazilian Regulator Anatel Approved AST SpaceMoble for Commercial Service and Allocated 10MHz x 10MHz of S-Band Spectrum ✅AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile Joint Venture Formation ✅Achieved 99Mbps performance with Block-1 BlueBird ✅Execution of MLA w/ United Launch Aliance 🚨 FCC Approval for Full US SCS Commercial Service🚨 ✅$45M Verizon Commercial Prepayment Unlocked ✅BB7 💐 Launch on Blue Origin New Glenn-3 ✅Demonstrated 150mbps Peak Speed w/ Block-2 BlueBird ✅7x New Design Composite Rings Delivered to Midland ✅Acquisition of New Manufacturing Space in Midland, TX focused exclusively on Micron production ✅Telus Definitive Commercial Agreement w Strategic Investment and $200M Committed Revenue (speculated) ✅Partnership with Orange ✅Partnership with Taiwan Mobile ✅Partnership with AXIAN Telecom ✅Satellite Connect Europe Partnership (“SCE”) with Telefonica ✅SCE Partnership with Orange ✅SCE Partnership with CK Hutchinson ✅SCE Partnership with Sunrise Switzerland ✅SCE Partnership with Vodafone Romania ✅SCE Partnership with VodafoneThree UK ✅SCE Partnership with Vodafone Ireland ✅AST Awarded $30M Prime Contract by US SDA for Halo Europa Program ✅$63M to 71M of 2H 2026 Revenue ✅Development of AI Engine to Dynamically Manage Satellite Capacity and Spectrum Efficiency = Seeking 3-10x Capacity Improvement ✅Disclosed over $1.2 billion in Aggregate Contracted Revenue Commitments from Commercial Partners ✅Raised $1.08B 2.25% Convertible Note resulting in $4B of Pro Forma Cash ✅BB6 Unfolding Phased Array ✅AST Awarded Prime Contract Position on US Missile Defense Agency SHIELD Program ✅Filed w/ FCC to modify Existing License to use S-Band spectrum outside of the US ✅$175M Saudi Telecom prepayment to be made by 2025YE ✅BB6 Launched from India on ISRO LVM3 ✅Micron Production to Support 6x a Month by End of Q3 2025 ✅Expanded Manufacturing Floor Space to 500,000 Square Feet ✅2,000 Global Workforce ✅Established Germany as SatCo JV operations center, filed constellation with ITU ✅Closed $420M bridge financing to support Ligado spectrum transaction ✅Saudi Telecom 10-Year Definitive Commercial Agreement w/ $175M prepayment and over $1.8B value ✅Confirmed L- and S- band Spectrum to be Incorporated into Next 3GPP release ✅Verizon Definitive Commercial Agreement ✅Raised $1.15B 2.0% Convertible Note resulting in $3.2B of Pro Forma Cash and Liquidity ✅Successful Video and Voice Testing with Bell Canada ✅US Bankruptcy Court confirms AST and Ligado L-band spectrum transaction transaction, deal now only subject to FCC appoval ✅Acquired Global S-Band Spectrum Priority Rights held Under International Telecommunication Union ✅Successfully Completed the First-ever Native Voice Call (VoLTE) and Rext (SMS) with a Standard Cell Phone using AT&T Spectrum and Core Network ✅Hired JR Wilson as Chief of Networks and Spectrum, formerly AT&T VP of Tower Strategy, Roaming & In-Building Solutions ✅Raised $575M 2.375% Convertible Note w/ Capped Call struck at $120, resulting in $1.5B of Pro Forma Cash on Balance Sheet ✅Repurchased $360M of $460M 4.25% Convertible Note ✅Entered into $550M of Non-Recourse Senior Secured Term Loan to fund Ligado Transaction ✅Secured $100M Equipment Loan Facility ✅Moved to Russell 1000 from Russell 2000 Index ✅Demonstrated World's First Tactical NTN Connectivity over Standard Mobile Devices with Defense Prime Fairwinds Technologies ✅Announced Latest MNO Partnership with Vodafone Idea of India ✅Hired Jennifer Manner as SVP of Regulatory Affairs and International Strategy, Former NTIA Senior Advisor of Space and Policy and EchoStar SVP of Regulatory Affairs ✅FCC Accepts AST’s Application for US Commercial Service ✅FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Senator Ted Cruz visit HQ in support of AST ✅Verizon and AT&T Spectrum Lease Agreements filed w/ FCC ✅FCC grants STA for beta testing w/ AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Bell Canada, and Rakuten ✅FCC grants STA for Firstnet Evaluation on Public Safety Band 14 ✅AST SpaceMobile Forms SatCo Joint Venture w/ Vodafone to Better Serve European market, Selects Luxembourg as HQ and Germany for NOC ✅Secured $43M and $20M Contracts w/ US Space Development Agency and Defense Innovation Unit ✅AST5000 ASIC Development Finished and Integration into Block-2 Sats in Q2 2026 ✅Successful Video Calls Completed w/ AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and Rakuten ✅Exercised Multi-launch Agmts w/ SpaceX, Blue Origin and ISRO ✅Reached 3,800 Patent & Patent pending Claims ✅Initiation of Research Coverage by Bank of America, Clear Street, Roth Capital, Cantor Fitzgerald, Oppenheimer and William Blair ✅Established Coordination Agmt w/ US National Science Foundation Covering Satellite and Ground-based Astronomy Operations ✅Closed $460M 4.25% Convertible Debt Funding ✅Signed 2-3x Additional Global MNOs, Bringing the Total to 53x Covering 3.2B Subscribers ✅Opened European Research Center w/ Vodafone and University of Malaga in Spain ✅Signed Deal w/ Singapore’s Defense Science and Technology Agency ✅Joined 5G Automotive Association, which Develops and Promotes 5G-based Solutions for Connected Autonomous Vehicles

$ASTS I'm Staying up for this one even though I will have to go to work a few hours later Webcast: AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 8-10 Mission Live Launch youtube.com/live/zjQieDzQTGo… via @YouTube

$ASTS: AST SpaceMobile is backed by the US top three wireless carriers ➡️ AT&T, Verizon and soon T-Mobile STAY FOCUSED™️

$ASTS: Stacks of high society ♠️♥️♣️♦️ READY TO GO 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀

Encapsulation complete. BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 are now secured inside Falcon 9's fairing ahead of launch. A stacked configuration powered by advanced carbon fiber structures, engineered to withstand ascent forces comparable to carrying a fully loaded space shuttle orbiter during launch. 💪 Next stop: launch. 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 Built in Texas. Broadband from space. Designed to connect directly to everyday smartphones. 🌎📶📱 #ASTSpaceMobile #Broadband #ConnectingtheUnconnected #BlueBirds

I'm still forming a lot of thoughts on $ASTS after $SPCX IPO that I'll try to share over time. Let's just say the market cap right now at $35B makes ZERO SENSE. I don't know when the market will wake up but when it does we will see another run like the summer of 2024. *NFA

$TE: ☀️ Did you know that if Section 232 Tariffs are applied broadly to polysilicon and downstream derivatives, spot price for US Modules could move from $0.28/W toward $0.38-0.40/W? This 39% increase in pricing would supercharge margins of vertically integrated suppliers like $TE and $FSLR We could see a ruling as soon as the end of June

Wait until people realize the opportunity ahead of $ASTS

🅰️🅰️! $ASTS x.com/i/spaces/1DGleeYdeEMJL

$ASTS - AST SpaceMobile could be awarded $1 billion this month 👀 "one operator is expected to be selected around the end of June" The J-LEO Project is a massive Japanese government initiative aimed at building an autonomous, domestic satellite network to allow smartphone-to-satellite connectivity. Backed by a substantial $1 billion budget through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), the program focuses on: * Providing direct-to-smartphone communication (DTC).Ensuring that vital satellite ground infrastructure is physically located in Japan for national security and autonomy. * Guaranteeing free emergency services (SMS, data, and voice) during national disasters. Currently, two major consortiums are competing for the project: Rakuten Mobile partnering with AST SpaceMobile KDDI partnering with SpaceX. Exciting times.

I think SpaceX might be able to reach approximately $1T revenue in 2030

THIS WEEK is a big week for space ... $SPCX is scheduled to launch Bluebirds 8, 9 and 10 for $ASTS on Wednesday, June 17th @ 2:39AM EDT from Cape Canaveral. $ASTS BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 are "Block 2" units, featuring the largest commercial phased-array antennas ever deployed in LEO (low Earth orbit) each spanning approximately 2,400 square feet per satellite ... AND, this weeks mission will be the first time three of these massive Block 2 satellites are deployed simultaneously ... a successful launch this week will be a genuine engineering milestone! 🤞🙏🛰️💫 The LIVE broadcast will begin approximately 15 minutes before launch time. Of course, the exact timing of launch is subject to change based on a # of factors, including readiness of the launch vehicle, weather conditions etc ...