SpaceX (SPCX) Price on Solana

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Google's first orbital AI hardware test on October 1, 2026, carrying an experimental satellite loaded with Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) into low-Earth orbit as part of Google's Project Suncatcher initiative. The mission marks SpaceX's entry into the emerging space-based compute market, positioning the company as launch infrastructure for what could become a new category of orbital data centers.

Project Suncatcher aims to evaluate whether TPUs — the specialized chips Google uses to train and run its AI models — can survive the radiation, thermal extremes, and launch forces of orbital deployment. Google pre-tested the chips at UC Davis, reporting they held up "remarkably well" to simulated ionizing radiation over a projected five-year lifespan. Two follow-on satellites planned for 2027 will test laser-based inter-satellite communications, pointing toward the long-term vision: solar-powered satellite clusters processing AI workloads hundreds of miles above Earth, sidestepping the power and grid constraints that increasingly limit terrestrial data center expansion.

Two more brokers began covering SpaceX (SPCX) on Tuesday, both with buy ratings, according to CNBC's roundup of the day's analyst calls. TD Cowen's case rests on the AI business rather than rockets. The firm expects SpaceX's terrestrial AI compute leasing to become its fastest-growing revenue stream and to make up the majority of the company's overall revenue by the first quarter of 2027.

CLSA put Starship at the centre of its thesis, calling the vehicle the foundation of SpaceX's value proposition. The firm also described SpaceX AI's offering as the most unique globally and said it may help revive American manufacturing. The initiations follow Starship's first orbital flight and a string of large AI hosting contracts signed by SpaceX this month.

SpaceX put Starship into orbit for the first time on Monday, September 28. The 14th test flight lifted off from Starbase, Texas. One of the upper stage's engines shut down early during ascent, but flight controllers decided the vehicle could carry on without it, and CNBC reports it finished its orbital burn about 26 minutes after liftoff. NBC News reports the 407-foot vehicle reached orbit at about 170 miles altitude and deployed 26 of SpaceX's newest Starlink satellites. That brings the constellation to roughly 11,026 satellites. As planned, the Super Heavy booster came down in the Gulf of Mexico minutes after launch.

SpaceX cut the mission short. It had planned a roughly 10-hour flight of six orbits, but Starship re-entered over the Pacific and splashed down north of Hawaii about three hours after liftoff, then tipped over and caught fire. The company did not say why it ended the flight early. Elon Musk has previously said SpaceX is cautious about debris falling on populated areas. Musk said the next flight may try to catch Starship with the launch tower's mechanical arms at Starbase, and put the odds at "even or slightly better". Orbital operations matter for NASA's Artemis III lunar mission, scheduled for summer 2027, because Starship must be certified for orbital docking before then.

SpaceX is set to launch the 14th test flight of its Starship Super Heavy rocket from Starbase, Texas, with a 75-minute window opening at 8:15 a.m. ET on Monday, September 28, CNBC reports. It is the first flight SpaceX has planned to put Starship into orbit; all 13 earlier test flights were suborbital. The Federal Aviation Administration authorized the launch and reentry operations on September 26. If the flight goes to plan, Starship will circle the Earth and deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites. The V3 satellites are built at SpaceX's facility in Redmond, Washington, and their solar arrays produce twice the power of the previous generation.

Reaching orbit matters for SpaceX's roadmap. The company is preparing Starship for a NASA test flight in 2027, plans to use it to return U.S. astronauts to the Moon's surface, and intends to launch AI compute satellites in 2027. Starship is designed to be fully reusable and to lift more cargo into orbit for less cost than any earlier vehicle. SpaceX went public in June in the largest IPO on record and is now valued at roughly $2 trillion, according to CNBC. Starlink, which has about 11,000 active satellites, was the company's largest segment and its only profitable one as of the second quarter.

A CNBC column published on September 25 argues that the strongest part of the SpaceX (SPCX) story is less the rockets themselves than what they let the company build in orbit. The column calls Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet network, a "cash cow". It says Starlink ended the second quarter with 12 million subscribers, double the count of a year earlier.

The author's buy case rests on three points. First, reusable boosters lower the cost of each launch. Second, SpaceX is vertically integrated: other satellite operators have to buy launches from outside providers, while SpaceX is its own launch customer and can keep expanding the Starlink constellation on its own rockets. Third, Starship could extend that lead by carrying much larger payloads, including the bigger satellites the column expects to drive Starlink's next phase, and could open further work in communications and defense. The piece is one writer's opinion, not a company disclosure.

Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on SpaceX on September 23, according to CNBC's roundup of Wednesday's top Wall Street analyst calls. The roundup did not include a price target. The note looked at SpaceX's direct-to-cell satellite ambitions and concluded that the company is not a likely threat to the major U.S. wireless carriers right now.

The analysts pointed to spectrum limits as the main constraint: "we believe SpaceX will have limited ability to access significant swaths of critical mid-band spectrum in urban areas." They added that "the lack of an imminent threat to the Big 3's core markets could mean that any potential MVNO agreement may not happen until several years from now." In practice, the firm expects any deal for SpaceX to operate as a mobile virtual network operator on a carrier network to be years away, even as it stays positive on the stock.