Space Race 2.0: New Global Powers and Private Companies Ignite the Next Frontier - Proffe Invest

Space Race 2.0: New Global Powers and Private Companies Ignite the Next Frontier

By: July 11, 2024

Space Race 2.0

The original “space race” took place around two generations ago, when the two major cold war foes, the US and the Soviet Union, went head-to-head when it comes to bringing the first human into space, onto the moon, and so on. 

Once the US had made history by sending men to the moon, interest in space travel and space exploration waned down, and the subject got less attention in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

But more recently, a new space race – we could call it Space Race 2.0 – has been heating up. New fast-growing powers such as China and India are spending more and more on space exploration, and private companies such SpaceX, led by billionaire Elon Musk, are gaining traction in space travel as well.

With tensions between Russia and the West as well as China and the West rising, countries are also increasingly looking at space from a military and defense perspective – following the end of the cold war, this had waned down.

More and more countries are investing more and more money in space travel. This includes the launching of satellites for communication purposes, the launching of espionage and other military satellites, the launching of probes to investigate the moon, asteroids, and so on. Last year, for example, India was able to land its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south side of the moon – no other country had achieved that up to this point.

Private companies play a big role when it comes to launches in modern times, as the following chart shows:

Launches by companies through 2023 (Source: Chartr)

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is the leading space 2.0 company in the world right now, having both the highest valuation, at around $200 billion according to Bloomberg, and the highest number of launches so far. With its renewable rocket technology, SpaceX is able to bring down launch costs significantly, allowing it to outbid competitors when it comes to contracts for launching satellites.

SpaceX has moved into different businesses over time, such as launching satellites for government agencies and for private (commercial) customers, but SpaceX also transports personnel to the ISS (International Space Station) for NASA. SpaceX also is a key supplier for the current Artemis project that will see the US bring people to the moon again, after decades of no such activity. The first human moon landing under the current program will likely happen in 2027, so a couple of years from now. This moon mission will use the Starship that is being developed and manufactured by SpaceX.

Competing companies, such as Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) or Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, are somewhat behind SpaceX, but with growing investments and a growing market to address, these companies should be able to see their business expand massively in the coming years as well. Blue Origin will, as a part of a consortium that also includes Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), supply a secondary lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis mission.

Ways To Invest In Space Race 2.0 Players

SpaceX and Blue Origin are unfortunately not publicly traded, but investors can invest in companies such as Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman that are part of consortiums supplying equipment for NASA’s current Artemis project.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) and Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) are other airspace companies that should be able to capitalize on the current global space boom. For investors looking for broad-based exposure to the space industry, the Procure Space ETF (NYSE: UFO) or ARK’s Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKX) could be of interest.


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