When SpaceX finally went public at $135 and immediately rocketed to $225, it was like watching the coolest kid in school show up to the party. Everyone forgot about the other kids who’d been holding down the space industry for years.
Here’s what actually happened: For years, investors couldn’t buy SpaceX directly, so they bought the next best thing—satellite makers, launch companies, Earth-imaging startups. These “space proxies” were basically betting on SpaceX’s gravitational pull. Then SpaceX went public with a $3 trillion valuation, and suddenly all those proxy stocks tanked. The market’s logic? “Why buy the opening act when the headliner is finally here?”
But here’s the thing—that selloff doesn’t mean space is dead. It just means money moved around. The fundamentals? Still solid.
**Why SpaceX’s Valuation Actually Makes Sense**
SpaceX is building the AWS of space. Right now, running AI compute on Earth costs about a dollar per GPU hour. In orbit? Try $142. Sounds like a no-brainer for staying earthbound, right?
Wrong. Here’s the plot twist: Earth-based compute is limited by physical resources—electricity, land, water, permits. Those costs only go up. But orbital compute is limited by technology, and technology costs always drop exponentially. Somewhere around 2030, those two lines cross. When they do, compute moves to space, and SpaceX owns the only elevator.
That’s why 80 times next year’s sales doesn’t sound crazy anymore. You’re buying the gatekeeper to humanity’s most valuable infrastructure.
**The Space Stocks Worth Watching Now**
While everyone’s obsessing over SpaceX, these beaten-down names are sitting on opportunity:
**AST SpaceMobile (ASTS)** is the telecom industry’s answer to Starlink—carriers who don’t want to depend on Elon built this. It’s trading right at its 200-day moving average, a level that’s held since 2024.
**Rocket Lab (RKLB)** is the credible non-SpaceX launch option. Think of it as the cloud provider’s backup plan. Companies need redundancy, and Rocket Lab is the only real alternative.
**Planet Labs (PL)** owns the Earth-observation data that AI models are literally starving for. It’s also the cheapest of the bunch at 20 times sales.
**BlackSky (BKSY)** is Planet’s riskier, higher-torque cousin—smaller, defense-focused, and potentially the biggest winner if this trade works out.
**The Play**
Here’s the strategy: Let SpaceX’s lockup period in August shake things out. Buy the dip on these space names while everyone’s distracted. Ride the comeback tour, then rotate back into SpaceX by year-end for balance. If you want one-ticket exposure to the whole space sector, there’s the Tema Space Innovators ETF (NASA).
We’re in the early innings of space becoming actual infrastructure, not just a cool idea. The music is still playing—you just have to know where to listen.
