① Sidus Space, a US stock space concept company, surged over 53% at one point on Friday to reach $3.38 per share, hitting the highest level since January this year, with a cumulative increase of approximately 115% this week; ② Sidus Space has been awarded the SHIELD contract by the US Missile Defense Agency and will participate in the 'Golden Dome' space-based missile defense system project, with a total contract value of up to $151 billion.
Cailian Press reported on December 27 (Editor: Zhaohao Zhao) that during the early trading session of the U.S. stock market on Friday (December 26), space-related stocks $Sidus Space (SIDU.US)$surged over 53% to reach $3.38 per share, hitting the highest level since January this year.
As of the time of writing, Sidus Space's intraday gains narrowed to less than 10%, trading at $2.402, with a cumulative weekly increase of approximately 107%.
Earlier this week, Sidus announced on its official website that the company had been awarded the Scalable Homeland Intercept Enterprise Delivery (SHIELD) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
It is understood that SHIELD is the second diversified contract framework launched by the MDA for the 'Golden Dome' project, positioned as a more inclusive enterprise-level contract platform, covering more than 19 work areas including prototype development, weapon design, systems engineering, data analysis and mining, and cybersecurity, with a total contract amount of up to $151 billion.
In May this year, Trump unveiled the 'Golden Dome' space-based missile defense system development plan, stating that the system would be integrated with the existing missile defense capabilities of the United States, aiming to achieve 'full operation' by 2028 and be capable of intercepting missiles launched from other parts of the world or even from space.
According to Sidus’s press release, SHIELD focuses on building a resilient multi-layered defense to counter air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats from all operational domains.
Carol Craig, founder and CEO of Sidus, stated, 'This milestone reflects our ability to provide integrated solutions across multiple domains and demonstrates our strong capability to build long-term capacity in the defense sector.'
MarketBeat, a well-known financial analysis website, noted that for a company with a market capitalization of less than $90 million, being able to participate in a defense project of such scale is undoubtedly a significant endorsement of its business model.
MarketBeat analysts mentioned that 'Golden Dome' needs to intercept some modern hypersonic missiles, which are too fast and fly too low for traditional ground-based radar to track effectively, so the US Missile Defense Agency plans to deploy the defensive network in Earth's orbit.
This defensive architecture relies on distributed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) technology, which will deploy a large number of small, low-cost satellites. Even if one or two satellites are destroyed, the entire network can remain operational, creating significant opportunities for agile manufacturers capable of rapid hardware delivery.
Sidus's vertically integrated manufacturing model perfectly meets this specific requirement. The company independently designs and manufactures satellites and has successfully secured contracts with its flagship multi-functional hybrid 3D printing satellite platform, 'LizzieSat'.
In the field of missile defense, the key advantage of Sidus systems lies in their powerful computing capabilities. Tracking hypersonic threats requires near-instantaneous data processing. Traditional satellites that collect raw data and transmit massive files back to Earth for analysis cause significant delays.
Sidus addresses this issue with its FeatherEdg platform, an onboard system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to process data directly in space—a concept known as edge AI.
However, MarketBeat analysts pointed out that due to rapid cash burn and the need for funding to support the production of LizzieSat-4 and LizzieSat-5 (scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2026), the company is facing significant cash flow constraints.
Earlier this week, Sidus issued over 19.23 million additional Class A shares, causing its stock price to plummet by 27.95% on Tuesday.
Editor/Stephen