SpaceX caps Starlink speed for Ukraine forces as space stocks swing
The move came as investors reacted to SpaceX's expansion into satellite-to-phone services.
A technology adviser to Ukraine's president said SpaceX capped the speed of Starlink terminals used by Ukraine's military forces without warning. Serhiy Beskrestnov said the change happened overnight Wednesday through SpaceX's Starshield military service. The news came during a volatile week for space stocks, driven partly by SpaceX's push into satellite-to-phone services. The Procure Space ETF, which tracks space stocks, fell 6.4 percent over the week.
Investors sent shares of Eutelsat, which owns the rival OneWeb network, up 23 percent on Wednesday. By Friday, Eutelsat had risen 28 percent for the week to about $2.81. Other European space companies also rallied, with SES rising 11.4 percent and OHB gaining 21.4 percent. In the United States, Piper Sandler downgraded AST SpaceMobile to neutral from overweight on Tuesday, citing competition from SpaceX. The firm lowered its price target for AST SpaceMobile by 44.9 percent to $54.
AST SpaceMobile ended the week down 20.2 percent. Rocket Lab shares fell 25.5 percent, the steepest decline among 20 U.S. space companies tracked by SpaceQ, after it said the first launch of its Neutron rocket is now expected in 2027. Satellogic dropped 25.4 percent, Sidus Space 23.2 percent, Planet Labs 21.1 percent and Momentus 20.2 percent. In all, 18 of the 20 U.S. names fell. The S&P 500 slipped 1.9 percent.
READ MORE: MDA Space Ltd. reports trailing total returns for period ending Oct. 14
READ MORE: MDA Space Ltd. reports trailing total returns for period ending Oct. 2
Comtech reported its fiscal 2026 results late Wednesday, and its shares jumped 13 percent the next day, making it the only U.S. name with a double-digit gain for the week. Its lenders also extended a covenant holiday, a pause on loan conditions, to July 2027. SpaceX's shares fell 10.2 percent over the week. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration published notice on Wednesday of a full environmental review of SpaceX's plan to launch Starship from Starbase, Texas, up to 456 times a year.
In Canada, the SpaceQ Canadian Space Index finished the holiday-shortened week where it began, at 98.70, after falling to 96.70 on Wednesday and recovering above its 100.00 base on Thursday. Maritime Launch Services and NorthStar Earth & Space both won conditional approval to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Maritime Launch's shares jumped 17 percent on Thursday, the day it announced the approval, to 48 cents. The company's shares trade on Cboe Canada for now, and it has not yet set a date for the move to the TSX.
NorthStar Earth & Space's shares jumped 30 percent on Wednesday, then gave the gain back over the next two days, ending the week down 11.6 percent in New York. The company has until Nov. 30 to meet the TSX's conditions for listing. Calian Group said Wednesday it had won a five-year contract worth about $47 million to design training scenarios for NATO's Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, and its shares rose 3.1 percent for the week. Magellan Aerospace rose 4.5 percent.
Czechoslovak Group (CSG), a Prague-based defence and industrial group, disclosed a 9.5 percent stake in MDA Space in a U.S. securities filing on Wednesday and said it is now MDA's largest shareholder. The filing shows CSG paid 6.2 percent more than MDA's closing price the previous Friday. MDA's shares slipped 0.8 percent over the week. Telesat fell 2.7 percent and is still up 61.1 percent this year.
5N Plus fell 10.2 percent, the steepest drop among the nine Canadian companies on the index, though its shares are still up 53.4 percent this year. Baylin Technologies lost 4.8 percent and closed at its lowest level of the past year. Intermap Technologies set a 52-week closing low of 77 cents on Wednesday and finished the week down 8.2 percent. It has lost 57.8 percent of its value since January.
Internationally, Avio and Lockheed Martin announced an agreement on Tuesday to build solid rocket motors at Avio's plant in Hurt, Va. Avio's shares rose 6.1 percent. Synspective, which operates small radar imaging satellites, fell 9.8 percent in Tokyo. Astroscale, which services and removes satellites in orbit, lost 8.2 percent. Lunar-lander developer ispace edged up 1.1 percent. Innospace, the South Korean rocket developer, fell 22.9 percent. Seraphim Space Investment Trust, a London-listed fund, fell 6.4 percent.
With files from SpaceQ