يشهد مناخ الأرض تغيرات ديناميكية مستمرة تؤثر على الإنتاج والصناعة العالميين. يتزايد تأثير الإنسان على بيئة الأرض مع تطور الاقتصادات والتقنيات ، مما يخلق الحاجة إلى المراقبة المستمرة لعمليات الاستغلال والمناخ وحالة الأرض. مع أزمة الأمن العالمية والتغيرات التاريخية في الجغرافيا السياسية ، يتزايد الطلب على الأقمار الصناعية والأنظمة التي تحدد التهديدات وتحللها وتساعد في تحييدها في الوقت الفعلي. تؤدي الأزمة الجيوسياسية والحصار التجاري إلى تعطيل سلاسل التوريد العالمية ، والتي تعد أساسية للسيولة والهوامش المستدامة للشركات الكبرى واقتصادات الدولة. كل هذا يخلق سلسلة متشابكة تتطلب تطوير تقنيات تقلل من التأثير القوي على الاقتصاد العالمي الناتج عن هذه الظواهر.
في مواجهة التغير السريع ، يواجه الطلب على خدمات الأقمار الصناعية احتمال قفزة في النمو. في التقرير التالي ، سوف نحدد القطاعات الرئيسية التي يتزايد اعتمادها على البيانات المقدمة من خارج مدار الأرض ، ونركز على تحديد المستفيدين من السباق على المنطقة الاستراتيجية للكوكب - الفضاء.
إبدأ بالإستثمار اليوم أو تدرّب على حساب تجريبي
قم بفتح حساب حقيقي جرب الحساب التجريبي تحميل تطبيق الجوال تحميل تطبيق الجوالقوة تصوير الأرض عبر الأقمار الصناعية
تتيح الصور التي تقدمها شركات تصوير الأرض تحديد البيانات وتحليلها. قدمت صورة المثال معلومات أساسية عن الوضع الحالي لمحاصيل الشتاء والربيع في أوكرانيا ، التي هي في حالة حرب مع روسيا ، وحددت موارد الحبوب المؤقتة التي تسيطر عليها روسيا. المصدر: PlanetLabs، NASA
توفر صور Maxar Technologies و BlackSky معلومات دقيقة عن موقع الأسطول ، وحالة التبادل العالمي للبضائع ، وتركيز القوات وتحركاتها. المصدر: Maxar Technologies
التصوير عبر الأقمار الصناعية لخط المواجهة يغير ميزان القوى ويساعد على خلق عدم تناسق في ساحة المعركة من خلال تحديد سلاسل التوريد والتوثيق المستمر لساحة الحرب. تُظهر الصورة الحفر الناتجة عن قصف مدفعي بالقرب من سلوفيانسك بأوكرانيا. المصدر: Maxar Technologies
3 key areas
Satellite imagery gives private companies and government agencies a powerful tool that can make human progress more sustainable and secure through risk mitigation and collaboration with Internet of Things (IoT) technology, remote sensing systems, cloud computing, robotics and the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI).
Climate change
The last decade has been the hottest on Earth in more than 125,000 years. Humanity is grappling with climatic threats, and press coverage has been dominated by news of drying up rivers that could impact global supply chains and industries (the drying up Rhine) and droughts that reduce crop yields. The impact of human activity on the environment continues to be the subject of research, which at an advanced stage of development requires satellite imagery and data. It is likely that more and more companies building business in industries exposed to the risk of climate change will be willing to pay for satellite platforms that reduce risk through early warning and provide key information on developments. Bayer Group has joined the ranks of satellite technology consumers.
Temperature changes over the past several hundred years. Source: IPCC
Geopolitics
The war in Ukraine has proved to be a domino cube in the global ladder of escalation, and diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing are deteriorating amid the conflict over the Taiwan Strait. Russia's aggression has been identified by the CEO of the world's largest asset management fund, Laurence Fink of BlackRock, as 'the twilight of the globalization era.' Extraordinary tensions between the superpowers are creating an unprecedented need to monitor troop movements, equipment and logistics facilities. Satellite imagery and data enable 'non-invasive' espionage and identify the capabilities and activities of competing economies.
Supply chains
The complicating global security situation with all the 'soft' risks it brings (trade lockdowns, embargoes) creates a demand for continuous monitoring and precise management of the trade fleet, in order to optimize and shorten tight delivery times. The impact of pandemic lockdowns could prove to be a substitute for a hypothetical situation in which China blocks the world's busiest shipping lane. Government entities as well as manufacturers and suppliers cannot allow such a huge exposure to risk, and are thus attempting to mitigate it. This creates a huge opportunity for the Internet of Things (IoT) and satellite imaging, which are seen as key modern tools to optimize supply chain management.
According to analysts' forecasts, eventually the space market will become a place dominated by commercial services, although today we see that still the largest contractors for satellite manufacturers and service providers remain defense companies, government agencies, intelligence agencies and the military. It's worth noting that the projected value of a given industry changes with changing demand and technology development. In June 2022, fertilizer and agro tycoon Bayer, a German company, became a Planet Labs customer, and the growing US space program may generate demand for critical mission systems. Demand for satellite services and Earth imaging is growing, and the advantages offered by the use of data from beyond Earth may determine the competitive edge. Source: Euroconsult
Which companies will become beneficiaries of the trend?
From a narrow group of companies present in the Earth imaging market, we selected three. One of the key indicators for selection was a favorable Debt to Equity Ratio, which could prove crucial for companies in a fast-growing, young industry. All three companies, on May 25, 2022, were awarded billion-dollar, 10-year contracts by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office to provide imagery and data to the Department of Defense, intelligence agencies and federal civilian agencies in the U.S. This confirms their technological capabilities and quality of service. The companies' biggest challenge will be to diversify their revenues by acquiring contracts with private companies, which could potentially leapfrog the margins and size of their business.
Maxar Technologies (MAXR.US)
Although Maxar Technologies has been in business since 1969, the company gained media exposure in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine, when the company's solutions and satellite network analyzed in real time the movements of Russian troops and the economic impact of the ongoing war. The company's object is the general collection of geospatial data, which is used by major state, commercial and financial entities. Moreover, the company is active in the space exploration sector.
Maxar's press office reported on August 9, 2022, that the company had won a tender to design and manufacture 14 modular satellite platforms for missile tracking for L3Harris under a contract with the Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Pentagon. Although there is no information on the value of the Maxar contract, the L3Harris contract with the Department of Defense was valued at nearly $700 million.Maxar Technologies (MAXR.US) stock chart, W1 interval. The share price is consolidating, the bulls were unable to maintain the upward momentum in the first quarter of the year. The zone at $23 has twice proved to be important support for the bulls again. Demand is struggling to climb above the key zone from the point of view of exponential EMA averages and psychology, which is above $30. The company has a favorable price-to-book ratio (P/B ratio) of 1.3 and is unencumbered by debt, as evidenced by a low Debt to Equity Ratio hovering around 1.5. The price-to-earnings ratio is over 28, 20% higher than the average for NASDAQ-listed companies. Source: xStation 5
BlackSky (BKSY.US)
The company has received $1 billion in funding from the National Reconnaissance Office and is strengthening its partnership with Airbus. The company has made a name for itself for its professional 'geointelligence' services and its growing cooperation with the US Army. BlackSky is developing state-of-the-art satellites with high-resolution imagery. In 2023, it will launch a satellite from the new Gen-3 'family' to be used by the US military. The satellite will transmit images with a resolution of up to 50 cm and will be able to observe objects regardless of the level of cloud cover, fog or adverse weather and light conditions, making it particularly important for US intelligence. By providing mission-critical systems and services to the Army, the company is positioning itself well to receive further contracts from the Defense Innovation Unit. BlackSky's services remain crucial to the U.S. TITAN system built to analyze data from ground, air and space sensors.
The company is also working on artificial intelligence-based data in its SpectraAI platform, which processes information from multiple types of imagery and radar (SAR) in real time which gives the company's customers the ability to continuously obtain critical data from any BlackSky-observed location in the world.
BlackSky Technologies is forecasting a surge in revenue by 2025, with the company estimating that revenue in 2025 will increase more than 25 times that of 2020. The company has metrics that may be of interest to investors relying on fundamental the company has no debt (0,43 Debt to Equity Ratio) and has price to book ratio 1,83 which is 10% lower than company listed on NASDAQ average. Source: BlackSky
Planet Labs (PL.US)
The company has constellations of more than 200 satellites that provide satellites to the company's business and government customers. In late 2021, Planet Labs acquired VanderSat, a company that had been in business analyzing and processing advanced satellite data to understand and analyze water and agricultural systems. VanderSat scientists have been cited more than 20,000 times in industry journals, and the company has helped monitor nearly 30 million hectares of land, supporting the fight for sustainability and optimizing management processes.
The acquisition could potentially prove crucial to Planet's future and complement its business model with deep analysis of imagery and data provided by satellite constellations. Delivered to Earth, complete satellite data can change the look of any decision-making loop and create a high-margin business model based on paying for data. With VanderSat, the company is able to provide information on, among other things, the volume of water compacted in the soil to a depth of 5 cm, the radiative temperature of the Earth's surface, and measure the biomass of terrestrial plants with a resolution of 10 meters. Planet Labs customers gain access to a platform that enables deep analysis and the construction of advanced graphs and models. In June, the German corporation Bayer established a partnership with Planet. BASF also uses the service, which uses the data to monitor the state of customers' fields (Biomass Proxy). A financial report from Planet Labs (PL.US) forecasts a surge in the number of the company's institutional and government customers, which could reach more than 800 entities in Q1 2023. Annual contract value could grow by an impressive 92% by then. The company is focused on improving net earnings, which will secure its future investments. The company's P/B Ratio (P/E) is 4.07, higher than its competitors, which is indirectly influenced by the growing role of the brand the company creates by establishing partnerships with large corporations. The Debt to Equity Ratio of 1.5 is favorable and indicates that the company's growth is not burdened by debt. The company's total capitalization is $1.7 billion. Source: PlanetLabs
Eryk Szmyd and Mateusz Czyżkowski
XTB Research