According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Viasat (VSAT +5.55%) stock was up by more than 17% week to date as of early Friday morning. Investors were cheered by news of the next-generation telecom services provider's participation in a large project involving a communications system to enhance coverage far from Earth.
Europeans in space
Viasat broke the big news on Tuesday, when it divulged that it had officially joined the European Space Agency's (ESA) Moonlight initiative. This is an ambitious program crafted by the agency to develop a lunar-orbiting navigation and communications system. If properly implemented, the system promises to significantly boost these services for moon missions.
Viasat said it will be the party tasked with designing and developing the communications network. This will be used by space craft such as lunar landers, orbiters, and other specialty vehicles. The company will also be responsible for establishing the necessary communications infrastructure on both the Earth and the moon's surface.
Overall, the Moonlight project's services are to be deployed in a series of phases, aimed at launching initial capability at the end of 2028. The systems should be fully operational by 2030.
In the press release trumpeting its participation in the initiative, Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg said he and his team are eager to support the project "by leveraging our commercial orientation, network engineering and operational skills, to reliably and securely support future generations of space exploration."
NASDAQ: VSAT
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Details matter
Viasat wasn't quite so forthcoming to provide the financial details of its role, saying only that its involvement will be fully funded by the ESA. That's comforting, but investors might have had an even more enthusiastic reaction if they had a good fix on how much the company stands to gain financially from the project.
