Something Just Shifted in the Space Market

SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share this week, locking in a $1.77 trillion valuation and raising $75 billion in what is now the largest public offering in history. That number matters beyond the headline. At roughly 94x its 2025 revenue of $18.7 billion, SpaceX enters the public market at a multiple that has no real precedent. It prices above Meta and Tesla combined on a revenue basis. Institutional money now has a benchmark for what the market is willing to assign to space infrastructure, and that recalibration does not stop at one ticker.

This is where Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) becomes interesting.

What Viasat Actually Does

Viasat is a global satellite communications company operating across three core verticals: commercial aviation inflight connectivity, maritime broadband, and government defense systems. Following its acquisition of Inmarsat, the combined platform serves airlines, cargo fleets, naval operators, and government clients across virtually every ocean and continent. It is not a startup. It generates over $1.1 billion in quarterly revenue and operates a satellite fleet that spans geostationary orbital slots with global coverage.

The aviation side is gaining momentum in a way that is hard to ignore. American Airlines recently selected Viasat to scale free Wi-Fi across its fleet. ViaSat-3 Flight 1 has already served over 60,000 flights, delivering fast, free connectivity while meeting high-performance service level agreements. The company is also expanding globally, with wins like STARLUX in the Asia Pacific region added to its commercial airline base.

On the maritime side, the company launched NexusWave, a fully managed bonded multi-orbit service combining GEO Ka-band, LEO, LTE, and L-band networks into a single intelligent connectivity solution. In sea trials, the new VS60 terminal achieved download speeds exceeding 250 Mbps. With ViaSat-3 Flight 2 now launched and Flight 3 expected to follow, both satellites are scheduled to enter service in 2026, each designed to carry more bandwidth capacity than Viasat’s entire existing fleet combined.

Slight tangent, but worth noting: Viasat also recently secured a $568 million agreement with Ligado Networks through its Inmarsat subsidiary, proceeds directed primarily at managing near-term debt maturities. The balance sheet pressure that has weighed on the stock for the past two years is actively being addressed.

The Bull Case and What to Watch

Orbital slot regulations and long-term airline fleet service agreements create genuine barriers to entry here. This is not a business a new competitor can replicate quickly. What’s interesting is that as institutional investors look for liquid, publicly traded names with real space infrastructure exposure post-SpaceX IPO, Viasat may attract attention simply by being one of the few that already operates at scale.

The risks are real. Net debt remains elevated at approximately $5.6 billion. Maritime vessel counts have dipped slightly. And execution on getting VS-3 F2 and F3 fully into commercial service is still in progress. These are not small considerations.

But if the SpaceX IPO does one thing for satellite investors, it forces a harder look at what existing, revenue-generating space infrastructure is actually worth. Viasat may be the most overlooked answer to that question right now.