Space split on a risk-off tape — new-space small-caps fell 5–9%, led down by IonQ -9.1% — while the defense primes held and distressed Comtech bounced.

Comtech (CMTL) was the space basket's top gainer Monday, up 12.7% to $1.33 on the ground-segment rung — but the move needs a flag. Comtech is a distressed sub-$2 small-cap, and no dated catalyst appeared in the session to explain the bounce. On a day the broader new-space complex fell, a double-digit percentage gain on a 15-cent price change says more about thin float than about any shift in the ground-segment thesis.

The steepest decliner was IonQ (IONQ), down 9.1% to $36.27 — a quantum name mapped here on the optical-terminals rung for its space-based entanglement-distribution ambitions, and Monday it fell with the quantum selloff rather than anything space-specific. The structural read is the same across the speculative end of this basket: the optical-terminals and earth-observation rungs are populated by pre-cash-flow names that trade as risk sentiment, and a risk-off session repriced them first and hardest.

The new-space small-caps sold off across rungs: Satellogic (SATL) -8.5% to $4.71 and Planet Labs (PL) -7.1% to $15.96 on earth observation; SiTime (SITM) -6.9% to $570.07 on the atomic-clocks/PNT rung; Viasat (VSAT) -6.0% to $67.66, Gilat (GILT) -5.9% to $8.41 and Spire (SPIR) -5.9% to $9.66 on ground segment; BlackSky (BKSY) -5.1% to $19.86; and Rocket Lab (RKLB) -3.7% to $65.71 on launch, with Redwire (RDW) -3.8% to $9.22 on in-space infrastructure. The defense-prime end held, as it did everywhere Monday: Northrop (NOC) +0.9% to $485.00, propulsion supplier Moog (MOG.A) +2.4% to $371.76, AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) +1.0% to $51.46 on ground segment, and the SpaceX wrapper (SPCX) +0.5% to $163.42.

The launch rung's next hard catalyst is Rocket Lab's Neutron maiden flight, targeted for a Q4 2026 window — the reusable medium-lift debut that would reprice the entire launch rung if it holds. On the optical-terminals rung, the SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer launch campaign continues, with Tranche 3 tracking-layer production milestones the next government-demand signal for the laser-crosslink suppliers.