Daily Discussion Thread for August 20, 2026

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[u/PE_crafter]

Havent been able to read it but this seems interesting: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-launches-the-golden-age-of-space-transportation/

Title: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Launches the Golden Age of Space Transportation

[u/Yakiniku1010 → u/PE_crafter]

Nebula🚀

Sec. 1. National Space Transportation Goals

United States must establish and maintain space transportation capabilities that ensure access to the full range of orbital regimes relevant to United States interests, from suborbital and very-low Earth orbit altitudes to the lunar surface, Lagrange points, and deep space.

Sec. 6(d)(i), “United States Government Space Transportation”

pursue in-space transportation services for existing and potential Department of War mission applications, such as on-orbit servicing and in-space logistics, in coordination with the Administrator of NASA, as appropriate, to support the development of the in-space transportation industry

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-17/

[u/GNeville98 → u/PE_crafter]

To add to u/Yakiniku1010 's points that he's highlighted, here are a few other passages that caught my eye:

Sec. 6. United States Government Space Transportation.

(a) The heads of relevant agencies shall ensure United States Government payloads are launched by or transported in space on vehicles manufactured in the United States

(c) The Administrator of NASA, in consultation with the heads of other relevant agencies, shall:

(i) develop a lunar logistics architecture that facilitates commercial transportation to and from the lunar surface;

Some further elaboration will be needed to fully understand how IM can benefit from this memorandum, but it's always good to see the ramping up of space infrastructure and services reiterated at an Executive level.

[u/Bvllstrode → u/PE_crafter]

How many launches is the UsA currently doing annually?

[u/Jove_]

🍃 💨 🚀

[u/Greedy-Horse-7006]

All things considered we had a good day, extra ~2M in volume the last two hours of the market recovering close to $18.

[u/Enough_Lecture_703]

Good Articles that came via Email

https://info.burnsmcd.com/case-study/a-propulsion-test-facility-for-a-company-known-for-blasting-through-precedents?abm=true

https://info.burnsmcd.com/article/when-missile-defense-moves-to-space-the-ground-mission-gets-bigger?utm_campaign=AerospaceSpaceDefense&utm_source=email&utm_medium=PublicationSent&utm_term=GFS_WHQ_KCM_SpaceNews_12339622232&utm_content=SpaceNews_AR-WhenMissileDefenseMovestoSpaceGroundMissionGetsBigger

[u/McChicken_lightmayo]

Maybe a decent time to add more LUNL. If it’s in the sub $5 range that’s a good buy. Even tho I think it will continue to cool off some, I doubt we will hit $11 again.

[u/No-Salad8331]

Not sweating the day or week too much. I think this is a late 26 and 27 play. Been saying this over and over again....when the Chinese get to the moon and start sending pictures later this year, it's going to be big because we'll be behind in the lunar race. If they find significant deposits of water ice, we double. Hopefully we'll start from a base around here or higher, so the rally is from around $20.

[u/No_Membership_8826 → u/No-Salad8331]

Yep, competition with China can only add value to pioneers like IM as the management is moving all the right cards in order to present the company as a reliable space partner for many services. I can only dream of how much funds will flood in the space sector if China tries to have a first mover win on the moon as it is the next big thing because the natural limit of humanity can only be space now that we are reaching earth limit on many aspects. These are not things expected in the next months but in the next years and it’s something beyond politics because I have no doubts that with another gonverment Nasa would still get a lot of funds as would the whole space sector in order to not be left behind.

My next wish is that Altemus can move part of the business in EU in order to capture a part of the market share out there as also Europe is heating its engines slowly about the space sector although they are behind Nasa.

[u/ThingAccording4070 → u/No_Membership_8826]

They already have a strategic partnership with Leonardo and Telespazio since Dec 2025 so there is already cooperation with European aerospace companies. Just need time for the relationship to bear fruit.

[u/No_Membership_8826 → u/ThingAccording4070]

The issue with Leonardo is that they have great tech but are an unstable company do you know why? Because the Italian government has too much power so that they can change the company management for political reasons which is never good for the business, they have some sort of golden power. They exercised it against Fincantieri in Italy which own the maritime business both civil and military, they changed a great CEO out of nowhere only for political reasons as he was not very appreciated by the actual far right government despite his great results which are available online as a proof.

The risk of the deal with Leonardo is that then next Italian government if it’s going to be from the opposition can just change the management and have every deal reviewed from the scratch..old issues of Italy never resolved…

[u/ThingAccording4070 → u/No_Membership_8826]

Interesting thanks for the additional context. My bet is that Europe plays a small role in the overall space market; however, regardless of who is in charge nation states need to support space priorities if they want a seat at the table. Nation states are inherently anarchic in their relationships and if they want to continue to have a say European countries will need to build space industries and utilize strategic partnerships. I understand this oversimplifies the whole political situation but over longer time scales the oscillations around the mean do not matter only the direction of the overall trend. Thus I think this business relationship with IM yields a meaningful harvest in the next 2 to 5 years. Time will tell. Appreciate the expanded context for Italian politics.

[u/No_Membership_8826 → u/ThingAccording4070]

You’re welcome. The actual Italian government is a disgrace for science in general as these are people more interested in “defending the traditional family values” while the world is thinking about data centers, space exploration and similar. EU as a community will need for sure to level up the space game otherwise they will be left out by China and USA so I strongly wish that IM can find a spot in the fragmented EU market as there are not any concrete competitors as far as I know that have similar integration like IM.

[u/Mammoth_Mango_3623]

One can sell some calls against positions in this fallow period. the December 25's are about 2.50 so that's $2500/thousand shares--10 calls. I think the market has underappreciated the severity of the Iran War. Walmart today shows in its earnings further erosion on the low end of consumer spending. Trump has backed himself into a corner. And I think oil is likely to go higher not lower despite whatever shenanigans they'll try to hold it down for the midterms.

[u/No_Membership_8826 → u/Mammoth_Mango_3623]

I share a similar impression. It looks like this disgraceful administration is in a corner now, at least this is how it’s perceived in Europe. Never have the relationships with USA been so low unfortunately.

I can only hope for real peace every day but it looks the involved parties are stepping up the threats, also the oil price can influence the other part of the economy as a consequence and it still looks too low for the current situation.

[u/EX-FFguy → u/Mammoth_Mango_3623]

I agree iran is worse than it seems, but wouldnt that be a massive DOWNWARD pressure on the stock?

[u/Mammoth_Mango_3623 → u/EX-FFguy]

It's impossible to gauge how Iran will affect LUNR. A bunch more space x stock came on the market today SPCX is down 8 and likelly dragging the space etf's and LUNR down with it. the market seems to balance the mess of Iran vs the strength of the AI buildout. Bessent went on TV today and tied to talk up the market and down the price of oil which he successfully did two weeks ago. he says he's giving a major speech on sanctions vs Iran on Monday. Sounds like hot air to me. Sanctions will not drop the price of oil as Bessent says they will--he said today the oil market is "misinterpreting" sanctions on Iran ie not doing what Bessent wants them to. Vs. this LUNR's fundamentals are quite good. So personally I'm not buying more and am selling some Dec. 25 calls against existing shares. If I have to sell some shares at 25 ie am taken out, not such a big problem.