Viasat, Inc. VSAT recently announced that it has joined the Moonlight project of the European Space Agency. In this program, Viasat will collaborate with Telespazio, the program lead, the UK Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, who are major contributors to the program.

The objective of the Moonlight program is to create a reliable communication and navigation infrastructure on and around the moon and also between Earth and the moon. In this project, VSAT will design and develop a robust communication network and also offer end-to-end communication services powered by its industry-leading satellite communication portfolio. This will provide connectivity to lunar landers, rovers, orbiters, and other technology. The company is also tasked with creating communication lunar surface terminals and communication earth ground infrastructure.

Successful implementation of the project will create robust navigation and communication services, which will bring several advantages to future lunar missions. It will allow space agencies to dedicate a greater part of their payload capacity to various mission-critical instruments. Moreover, the moonlight communication system will act as a data highway, enabling high-speed communication between Earth and the Moon, people, spacecraft and lunar vehicles. This will revolutionize the future of lunar exploration for European and other international space missions as well.

The Moonlight service will be deployed in several phases. The agencies aim to complete the initial phase by 2028 and make the system fully operational by 2030. UK Space Agency has also selected VSAT to support the U.K.’s effort in developing communication capabilities. Once fully operational, the project, powered by VSAT satellite communication systems, will open up a wide range of possibilities, including scientific exploration of rare materials found on the lunar surface and commercial activities such as space tourism.

Will This Development Drive VSAT’s Share Performance?

The European Space Agency is fully funding the initial phase design, which reduces financial risks and makes the project more lucrative for VSAT. Viasat’s active involvement in prominent projects like Moonlight and collaboration with the European Space Agency highlights the reliability of its comprehensive satellite communication portfolio. This will likely boost commercial prospects for the company.

Viasat is ramping up investments in the development of its revolutionary ViaSat-3 broadband communications platform, which will have nearly 10 times the bandwidth capacity of ViaSat-2. These satellites will be capable of covering one-third of the world, including all Americas. The second ViaSat-3 will cover Europe, the Middle East and Africa region. In a nutshell, Viasat has garnered enough economics of scale and scope to serve vast emerging markets in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Western Asia. Hence, momentous market traction of ViaSat-1 and ViaSat-2 satellites, coupled with strategically planned ViaSat-3 satellites, are likely to provide the company with a solid competitive edge over its peers, thereby bolstering growth in the long run.

VSAT’s Stock Price Performance

Shares of VSAT have lost 35.2% over the past year against the industry’s 44.4% growth.

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VSAT’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Viasat currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

InterDigital IDCC sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the trailing four quarters, it delivered an earnings surprise of 158.41%. It is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and capabilities. The company designs and develops a wide range of advanced technology solutions used in digital cellular, wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks.

Celestica Inc. CLS carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. The company provides competitive manufacturing technology and service solutions for printed circuit assembly and system assembly, as well as post-manufacturing support to many of the world's leading original equipment manufacturers.

United States Cellular Corporation USM sports a Zacks Rank of 1 at present. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 150%.

U.S. Cellular has taken concrete steps to accelerate subscriber additions and improve churn management. The company aims to offer the best wireless experience to customers by providing superior quality network and national coverage. It is well-positioned to support the investment required for network enhancements, including the deployment of 5G technology.

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