The New Space Economy Just Quietly Became an Asset Class
For most of our lifetimes, “space” was a government project.
Today it’s an investable asset class.
Q1 2026 alone saw $36 billion deployed into the space economy. By 2040, the forecast crosses $1 trillion.
And the catalyst hanging over all of it — the SpaceX IPO — is widely expected to land this year as the first trillion-dollar offering in market history.
On this week’s Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon walk through what they’re calling the railroads of space: the picks-and-shovels companies quietly building the rails that everything else will ride on.
Why “Railroads”?
When America built the railroads, the durable fortunes weren’t always made by the people laying track.
They were made by the suppliers — steel, timber, telegraph wire — and by the operators of the depots that grew up alongside the line.
Space is rhyming.
The rocket itself — the part that captures the imagination — is one piece of a much larger build-out.
The real economic story is the infrastructure that the rockets carry, deploy, and service: satellites, ground networks, robotics, imagery, defense communications, and eventually data centers above our heads.
That is the lens we use when we look at this sector.
The Three Investable Layers of the Space Economy
Ben and Dan break the opportunity into three layers any investor can use as a mental map:
- Access — the launch providers. Reusable rockets, payload delivery, the literal “railroad.”
- Infrastructure — satellites, communications networks, Earth-observation constellations, eventually orbital data centers.
- Application & Data — the companies that turn what is collected on orbit into revenue: imagery, geospatial intelligence, defense applications, telecom subscriptions.
Each layer carries different economics, different risk profiles, and very different paths to profitability.
The Names on the Board
A handful of publicly traded companies are already in the conversation.
None of these are recommendations — they are simply the businesses driving the headlines.
- Rocket Lab (RKLB) — Reusable launch plus a growing satellite and data business. Up well over 200% in the trailing year, with revenue growth around 38% in 2025 and a backlog approaching $2 billion. Profitability is still the open question.
- AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) — Building a satellite-based cell network in partnership with carriers like AT&T and Vodafone. Up north of 370% in the trailing year on enormous revenue growth — and equally enormous volatility.
- Iridium Communications (IRDM) — A more mature subscription-style telecom in the satellite space. More predictable, less moonshot upside.
- Planet Labs (PL) — Up roughly 700% in the trailing year. Worth remembering: this is a data company that uses satellites, not a satellite company that happens to have data.
- Redwire (RDW) — Components, solar arrays, and on-orbit robotics. The most literal “picks and shovels” name on this list — and one that has actually pulled back in recent quarters.
The private side is dominated, of course, by SpaceX, whose anticipated 2026 IPO is the single biggest catalyst hanging over this entire conversation.
Blue Origin, the Bezos counter-program, also looms in the background.
Robotics: The Quiet Co-Star
You cannot seriously talk about space investment without talking about robotics.
Robots don’t breathe. They don’t need life support. They don’t care about a 25,000 mph re-entry.
Honeybee Robotics (private) builds planetary rovers, drilling systems, and robotic arms supplied to NASA and other space agencies.
Redwire is a public-market expression of the same theme.
Whether the job is building on the moon, servicing a satellite, or eventually cleaning up orbital debris — robotics will be inside the trade.
Four Risks Every Investor Needs to Respect
Before chasing a chart that’s already up 300%, understand what you are underwriting:
- Capital intensity. Day-one costs are massive. A rocket that doesn’t reach orbit takes its customers’ payloads with it. Insurance, redundancy, and re-engineering are baked into every dollar of revenue.
- Government dependence. A meaningful slice of revenue across this sector is defense and government contracts — much of which cannot be discussed publicly until the checks clear. Traditional balance-sheet analysis is harder than it looks.
- Speculative pricing & boom-bust cycles. When a stock is up 700% in a year, you are not buying earnings — you are buying a story about the future. Stories revise.
- Private-market competition. A trillion-dollar SpaceX IPO could reshape the competitive map overnight. Several of today’s public names could find themselves marginalized in eighteen months.
How We’re Thinking About It at BFG
Inside the portfolios we manage at Brayshaw Financial Group, we lean toward fundamental, profit-driven names — and we trade actively when conditions warrant.
Space is on our radar. But not as a single-name speculation.
For most clients who want exposure here, an actively managed space-themed ETF — chosen with the same lens we use for any sector vehicle (cost, holdings, manager track record, tax structure) — is a more reasonable way to participate than betting on one company surviving the next launch cycle.
The space-themed ETF benchmark we follow is up roughly 150% over the trailing year, versus about 30% for the S&P 500 — driven, unsurprisingly, by the same handful of winners we discussed above.
That kind of dispersion is exactly why basket exposure can be the right call for investors who don’t want to do bottom-up analysis on each name.
This is a multi-decade build-out. We will be returning to this topic several times this year, including around the SpaceX IPO when it lands.
The Long View
Some of these stocks are up hundreds of percent in twelve months.
That is exhilarating — and that is exactly the moment to slow down.
The investors who built durable wealth in the railroad era weren’t the ones chasing the loudest locomotive.
They were the ones who quietly owned the steel, the timber, and the depots.
Space rewards the same discipline.
Be informed. Be intentional. Be a good steward of what you have been entrusted with.
Next Steps
If you would like help thinking through how the space economy — or any other emerging theme — fits into your portfolio, retirement plan, or long-term strategy, we invite you to schedule a conversation with our team.
Call: 855-226-8551
Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
Frequently Asked Question
What is the “picks and shovels” approach to space investing?
The picks-and-shovels approach focuses on the suppliers, infrastructure providers, and service companies that support a fast-growing industry — rather than betting on a single headline name. In space, that means owning the makers of satellites, components, ground networks, robotics, and data services that profit no matter which rocket company ultimately wins. Historically, picks-and-shovels investments have been more durable than direct bets on speculative end-users.
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