Goldman Sachs is putting a number on the orbital land grab in a recent report titled “The Second Space Age: How Markets, Technology, and Power Are Reshaping the Final Frontier.”
The firm projects the global space economy will hit $1.8 trillion by 2035, a figure the bank frames as the natural output of collapsing launch costs, surging private capital and a wide-open runway for public-market funding.
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Space, the report argues, is shedding its identity as a government prestige project and becoming a pillar of the industrial economy in its own right.
The money is already moving. More than $55 billion flowed into the space ecosystem in 2025, and the pace only accelerated from there — the first quarter of 2026 alone brought a record $36 billion of investment, according to the report.
Investment firm Seraphim Space told Reuters in January that global space-technology investment was set to climb further in 2026, pushed by defense-linked satellite spending and private bets on launch capacity — a forecast the first-quarter numbers have already validated.
Public markets are absorbing much of that capital. Aerospace companies have raised a cumulative $89 billion through IPOs since the start of 2025, a wave Goldman calls the “broader institutionalization of space as a distinct industry within the public equity market.”
Space Exploration Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) supplied the headline moment. Its Nasdaq debut in June raised roughly $75 billion and closed up 19% on day one, pushing its market capitalization above $2 trillion.
A handful of tickers are absorbing most of investor attention as the space economy consolidates around a few key layers:
- SpaceX — Combines launch, satellites and connectivity under one roof through Falcon, Starship and Starlink, and remains the largest pure-play bet on the sector after its record-setting June IPO.
- Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) — Building toward full-stack scale with its Neutron rocket and acquisition of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM), a deal that adds a 66-satellite network and more than 2.5 million subscribers.
- AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) — Running a direct-to-smartphone satellite network, backed by more than $3.7 billion in pro forma cash after a July capital raise.
- Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLY) — Smaller lunar-lander and launch player moving to vertically integrate AI-powered navigation through a recent acquisition.
Goldman expects rising public-market activity to fuel consolidation, with launch, manufacturing, orbital infrastructure and space-derived data emerging as the chokepoints where value concentrates.
Companies that control those layers stand to capture disproportionate returns as the industry matures. Access to capital, the report notes, is becoming a competitive advantage in its own right.
Goldman’s $1.8 trillion target is nine years away, yet capital keeps arriving well before revenue catches up. Early funding gaps like this one can decide which companies survive long enough to see the payoff.
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