Space Tech

Space tech is experiencing its second golden age. SpaceX proved the market; now hundreds of startups are filling the value chain. Rocket Lab ($6B), Relativity Space ($4B), and Planet Labs ($2B) are publicly traded, while private companies like Impulse Space, Varda Space, and Vast are building the next layer of orbital infrastructure. The economics have fundamentally shifted. SpaceX's Falcon 9 reduced launch costs from $50,000/kg to under $3,000/kg, and Starship promises $200/kg. This 250x cost reduction is the equivalent of the internet's bandwidth explosion — it enables entirely new business models. Satellite constellations for broadband (Starlink, Kuiper), Earth observation (Planet, Capella Space), and direct-to-device connectivity (AST SpaceMobile, Lynk Global) are billion-dollar opportunities that didn't exist a decade ago. The next frontier is in-space manufacturing (Varda Space Industries), space stations (Vast, Axiom), and lunar infrastructure. Defense spending is also accelerating: the US Space Force budget exceeded $30B, and the Space Development Agency is deploying hundreds of satellites. The winners will be vertically integrated companies that own both the hardware and the data/software layer — not just launch providers, but platforms.