Red Cat Holdings (NASDAQ:RCAT) is certainly not having a case of the Mondays this morning. The company is getting a hyper-energized start to its week, chock-full of gains. That’s because one of its subsidiaries will be seeing its technology roaming the Martian landscape … sort of. A contract between Red Cat’s subsidiary and NASA will be a crucial part in the ongoing mission to get humans on Mars. As such, investors are seeing the importance of the contract reflected in the massive gains for RCAT stock this morning.
Drone technology is the name of Red Cat Holdings’ game. The company is touching on all corners of the drone tech market, from drone-based deliveries to drone-conducted inspections to drone insurance — the list goes on. The company was founded in 1984, making it one of the most senior businesses in the commercial drone industry.
Red Cat has been on a tear through 2021. In late April, RCAT stock saw its listing on the Nasdaq Exchange. Back in January, the company made a big acquisition in the form of its Skypersonic purchase. Skypersonic touches mainly on drone-based inspection and surveying, with small and mobile drones outfitted with various measurement tools.
RCAT Stock Surges After NASA Inks Deal With Skypersonic
Its Skypersonic’s cutting-edge inspection tech that made it an apt candidate to partner with NASA on its newest project. The two entities are announcing a collaborative effort on the the space agency’s simulated Mars mission.
NASA will be placing four crew members in a simulated Mars environment called Mars Dune Alpha. The 1,700-square-foot habitat will closely simulate what NASA believes life on Mars will look like. The crew members will live aboard this habitat for a year.
In addition to this testing, the crew members will also periodically simulate space walks, and they will have a chance to remotely survey Martian terrain using Skypersonic’s drones. The partnership between Skypersonic and NASA will put the company’s tech into crew members’ hands for at least the next five years.
Environmental simulation is a crucial step for the Mars mission. Just as zero-gravity and G-force tests help the agency to gauge a crew member’s ability to withstand a mission into space, so does the simulated Mars project. As such, the news is pushing RCAT stock to great new heights this morning. The stock is up 61% in the early hours of the trading session. More than 108 million shares of RCAT are trading hands against a daily average of just 3.4 million.
On the date of publication, Brenden Rearick did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
