While SpaceX and Blue Origin deploy ships that operate as offshore landing platforms for rocket boosters, Seagate Space aims to launch rockets from sea.

Space stocks are catching a strong updraft in midday trading. Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) stock is up 14% to $4.87, while Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB | RKLB Price Prediction) stock is climbing 6% to around $122.

The Long March 12B, the largest and most powerful (potentially) reusable rocket China has launched to date, lifted off Monday from a remote launch pad in the Gobi Desert. The 236-foot-tall (72-meter) rocket took off at 4:40 pm Beijing time (08:40 UTC or 4:40 am EDT).

The company launched the largest commercial communications satellite ever into orbit in late 2025, and plans one to two satellite launches per month this year. AST SpaceMobile intends to have a constellation of 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year.

The space sector split is widening fast Monday morning. Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) stock is up 18% to $7.28, while launch-exposed peers are sliding hard. AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) stock is down 9% to $103.

When rockets fire into space, the insides of their engines become an extreme environment where temperatures soar and tiny particles are thrown around at hypersonic speeds. These particles behave in ways that break long-held assumptions,

These two ambitious players are reshaping the space economy, but their distinct business profiles and paths create very different risk and reward profiles for investors.

By Akash Sriram NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - Impulse Space, a startup building spacecraft that can ferry satellites and other payloads around in orbit after launch, said on Tuesday it has raised $500 million in a Series D funding round.