Firefly Aerospace rises on lunar computing deal

Firefly Aerospace stock climbed 7.3% in morning trading Wednesday after the company announced a commercial payload agreement with Starcloud, a venture-backed AI computing firm.

The partnership will demonstrate advanced computing capabilities in lunar orbit aboard Firefly's Elytra orbital vehicle. Starcloud's SC-1L processor will process data from Firefly's onboard Solux vision system, perform high-power AI computing in orbit, and transmit processed results back to Earth.

The mission aims to validate the core architecture for a potential future data center around the Moon, according to a press release issued at the opening of Wednesday's session.

The agreement builds on Firefly's existing collaboration with NVIDIA to process data on orbit for its Ocula lunar imaging service. The Starcloud deal extends this into a dedicated commercial payload customer relationship.

Ray Allensworth, Vice President of Spacecraft at Firefly Aerospace, said the partnership is "laying the groundwork for the computing infrastructure future lunar operations will depend on."

Analyst consensus on Firefly stands at Moderate Buy, with average price targets ranging from approximately $37 to $42, above current trading levels.

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