Wall Street Is Bracing for the Biggest IPO in History — And It Might Reshape the Entire Space Economy

Space has been hot for months, but 2026 is shaping up as the year it goes full mania—thanks to a potential SpaceX IPO that could raise more than $30 billion and value Elon Musk's rocket-and-satellite empire at roughly $1.5 trillion. That would make it not only the biggest IPO in history, but also the market’s purest listed play on the commercial space economy and space-based broadband through Starlink. It’s the kind of deal that can pull capital away from everything else for a moment and then, if it trades well, pull everyone back into the broader space complex with even more enthusiasm.

SpaceX has reportedly told investors it’s targeting an IPO in the second half of 2026, while also weighing a secondary sale valuing the company near $800 billion in the private market. The IPO is expected to include Starlink, reversing earlier talk of spinning it out separately. That matters: most of the bullish valuation work, like Cathie Wood’s $2.5 trillion by 2030 scenario, rests heavily on Starlink and Starshield, not just launch. With more than half of global orbital launches and millions of broadband subscribers already, SpaceX is effectively the index of “New Space.” Taking that public is a structural shift, not just another ticker.

The catch, of course, is valuation and crowding. A $1.5 trillion IPO with $30 billion or more in stock for sale will demand attention and liquidity from across the market. Some investors are already worrying that such a huge deal could be a short-term drag on risk assets as portfolios sell other positions to make room. But if the stock trades well, it will likely re-rate the entire sector higher, validate business models that currently live on PowerPoints, and open the door for more follow-on offerings and new listings.

For now, investors looking to front-run a SpaceX IPO have been playing the ecosystem. One of the cleanest (if imperfect) proxies has been EchoStar (SATS), which sold large blocks of spectrum (AWS-4 and H-block) to SpaceX in exchange for billions in SpaceX stock. At a recent private valuation around $400 billion, Morgan Stanley estimated that every $100 increase in SpaceX’s share price adds roughly $18 per SATS share, or about 20% to SATS equity. That leverage goes both ways, but it explains why SATS has been up several hundred percent year-to-date, and why bulls can model much higher upside if SpaceX lists at, or trades to, nosebleed levels.

Another way investors have tried to game SpaceX has been Destiny Tech 100 (DXYZ), a closed-end fund that holds pre-IPO stakes in high-growth private tech names including SpaceX, OpenAI, and others. In practice, DXYZ has behaved more like a meme vehicle than a sober allocation tool: it has traded at massive premiums to net asset value, ripped over 1,000% at one point, and then cratered as the premium vanished. For retail traders, it’s a cautionary reminder that “access” to unicorns via closed-end structures often comes with extreme volatility, high fees, and serious downside if sentiment turns.

For investors who want space exposure without betting the farm on one company or one private-markets wrapper, the Procure Space ETF (UFO) has quietly become the sector’s benchmark. UFO has returned over 60% year-to-date, far outpacing broad equity indices, as enthusiasm has poured into satellite communications, imagery, launch providers, and defense-linked space assets. The ETF holds names like AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), Globalstar (GSAT), Planet Labs (PL), EchoStar (SATS), ViaSat (VSAT), Rocket Lab (RKLB), and traditional aerospace and defense giants (RTX, LMT, NOC), giving investors a diversified way to participate in the run-up to SpaceX’s debut without stock-picking every launch schedule and satellite constellation.

The macro setup for 2026 also looks unusually supportive. The global space economy is roughly a $600 billion business today, but forecasts have it tripling to around $1.8 trillion by 2035, with communications, data, defense, and in-orbit services driving much of the growth. SpaceX’s IPO could act as a catalyst that unlocks more institutional capital for everything from satellite networks to on-orbit servicing and debris removal. At the same time, rising interest in AI and energy-intensive compute is fueling serious talk of orbital data centers, with both SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin reportedly exploring ways to move compute off Earth. That shifts space from “cool rockets” to core digital infrastructure, which tends to command much higher valuation multiples.

On top of that, the sector is already seeing a new wave of listings and follow-on capital raises. Smaller players like Starfighters Space are trying to bring innovative launch models (air-launch from F-104 jets) to market, while more traditional satellite operators and defense technology names lean into the space narrative to raise capital and highlight their exposure. If SpaceX does, in fact, come public in late 2026 and trades well, it could trigger a flurry of IPOs, spins, and secondary offerings across the ecosystem—exactly the environment that tends to create both outsized winners and painful value traps.

Below are some of the key publicly traded names in the space complex that investors may want to watch as the SpaceX IPO story evolves:

• SATS – EchoStar EchoStar has become the purest listed derivative of SpaceX’s private valuation, thanks to its spectrum-for-equity deals that left it holding billions of dollars in SpaceX stock. Beyond the SpaceX stake, SATS owns scarce and appreciating spectrum assets that major U.S. wireless carriers are expected to covet, giving it multiple potential catalysts. The stock has already rerated sharply higher, but analysts still see upside if spectrum sales are realized at attractive prices and tax leakage is managed, and if SpaceX’s eventual IPO validates higher embedded value. The flip side is that investors are now heavily exposed to both regulatory outcomes around spectrum and the vagaries of SpaceX’s private-market pricing.

• GSAT – Globalstar Globalstar is a satellite communications company with globally harmonized spectrum in S-band, L-band, and C-band, and it is increasingly positioning itself as a partner platform for private 5G and IoT connectivity. Recent commentary highlighted its large HIBLEO-XL-1 system and the potential for a future megaconstellation built with partners rather than GSAT shouldering all the capex. Analysts see GSAT as being at a strategic inflection point, with terrestrial spectrum monetization starting to kick in thanks to new channel partners and radio access network innovations. Speculation about strategic alternatives, including possible interest from larger players like SpaceX, only adds more optionality—and more volatility.

• VSAT – ViaSat ViaSat straddles the line between traditional satellite operator and higher-growth defense technology provider, with its Defense & Advanced Technologies segment increasingly viewed as the crown jewel. The company has endured a rough stretch of technical issues with its Viasat-3 satellites, but recent results and an ongoing strategic review of the defense business have reopened the sum-of-the-parts upside story. If the spin-out of its defense unit proceeds and executes well, investors could see multiple expansion as that business is valued against higher-multiple defense tech comps instead of legacy satellite peers. Risks remain around launch execution, Starlink competition, and government budget noise, but the risk/reward is becoming more interesting as the sector re-rates.

• RKLB – Rocket Lab Rocket Lab has emerged as one of the few credible non-SpaceX launch providers, focusing on small and medium payloads with its Electron rocket and developing the larger Neutron vehicle. The company has also pushed aggressively into spacecraft components and satellite buses, trying to build an integrated offering instead of being just a launch “taxi.” Shares have rallied alongside the broader space trade, helped by the prospect of rising launch demand as more constellations come online. Execution on Neutron and the economics of its manufacturing scale-up will be critical, as investors are quick to punish delays or cost overruns in a post-SPAC environment.

• UFO – Procure Space ETF UFO itself deserves a mention as a one-stop vehicle for diversified exposure to the space theme ahead of the SpaceX IPO. The ETF holds a mixture of pure-play space names and diversified defense and communications firms, using a tier-weighted methodology tied to how much revenue each company derives from space-related activities. Its strong performance and growing inflows suggest it has become the default way for many investors to express a space view without stock-specific risk. If a wave of new space listings hits in 2026, UFO is likely to be both a beneficiary and a barometer of how much capital is rotating into the theme.

• DXYZ – Destiny Tech100 DXYZ is effectively a packaged bet on private tech unicorns, with SpaceX often representing a large, concentrated position in the portfolio. For investors unable to access late-stage private rounds directly, it provides a rare public-market shortcut—but at the cost of extreme volatility and the risk of paying huge premiums to underlying NAV. The fund’s wild price swings, driven as much by retail enthusiasm as by changes in private valuations, make it more of a tactical trading vehicle than a steady allocation to the space economy. Still, as SpaceX moves closer to an IPO, DXYZ’s “SpaceX factor” is likely to keep it in the crosshairs of speculative traders.

SpaceX going public in 2026 will be more than just another mega-deal; it will be a referendum on the entire idea that space is shifting from “science project” to critical infrastructure for communications, defense, and AI compute. For investors, the challenge over the next year isn’t simply waiting to see the SpaceX ticker—it’s figuring out which parts of the ecosystem deserve capital now, while the launch window is still wide open.