Investors are salivating for SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO in a few weeks, but there are already a number of publicly traded stocks with exposure to different parts of the expanding space economy.
In addition to rocket companies that launch payloads into orbit, others in the sector develop satellites and vehicles or provide space-based services like communications and imagery. Some are recent upstarts, while others have been mainstays for decades.
Led by the Falcon rocket and Falcon Heavy for bigger payloads, SpaceX claimed more than 80% of global rocket launches last year and has more than 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit. But despite its emergence as the new industry leader, there’s room in the growing space economy for other companies.
Rocket Lab develops small and medium-class rockets, spacecraft and components while also providing launch services, satellite manufacturing, and on-orbit management.
Virgin Galactic is a space travel company serving private individuals, researchers, and government agencies via spacecraft it has developed.
AST SpaceMobile plans to build a global cellular broadband network in space and is developing a constellation of BlueBird satellites.
Voyager Technologies is a space and defense supplier making a variety of systems, such as propulsion and communications gear.
Firefly Aerospace designs, manufactures, and operates rockets, lunar landers, and orbital spacecraft. Last year, its Blue Ghost robotic vehicle landed on the moon.
Intuitive Machines designs spacecraft, delivers payloads to the lunar surface, and provides infrastructure services. It has also put landers on the moon.
Planet Labs designs, builds, and operates a fleet of satellites that provides global imagery and geospatial data.
Similarly, BlackSky Technology provides on-demand, high-frequency imagery and data via proprietary satellites and from third parties.
For instance, Boeing played foundational roles in the Apollo program and space shuttle. More recently, it built the Space Launch System used in the Artemis lunar mission. Lockheed also developed the Orion space capsule for Artemis.
Boeing and Lockheed are joint venture partners in the United Launch Alliance, which develops rockets that put payloads in space.
Meanwhile, Northrop, which designed and built NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, makes satellites and space vehicles for on-orbit refueling while suppling a range of civil and military systems.
