A new era of commercial space activity is underway—and now, investors have a purpose-built, actively managed ETF to participate in it. The Tema Space Innovators ETF (NASA) is the first pure-play, actively managed ETF dedicated solely to the modern space economy, including direct exposure to SpaceX—the world's most valuable and most iconic space company.
The global space economy is projected to nearly triple by 2035, driven by falling launch costs, satellite proliferation, and rising defense and civil government demand.1
SpaceX is the defining force in this story. It now accounts for more than half of all successful orbital launches globally, operates the world's largest satellite constellation,2 and may be the most anticipated IPO in history.
NASA is the only pure-play space ETF to directly invest in SpaceX, alongside a rigorously managed portfolio of other high-conviction space companies, at just a 0.75% management fee. Investors pay no additional fees or commissions to own SpaceX.
Space is no longer solely a government program. It is a commercial industry—and we believe one of the most consequential investment opportunities of the next decade. The global space economy generated $630 billion in economic activity in 2023 and is forecast to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035.1
Space Shows Compelling Growth Potential
Global space economy, $bn1
Commercial services now drive the story, including satellite broadband, earth observation, and geospatial analytics, with the segment projected to grow from $452 billion today to $1.3 trillion over the next decade.1 Government programs in civil exploration and defense contribute meaningfully, but the engine of this era is private enterprise. This has been enabled by a simple but no less profound breakthrough: The cost of reaching orbit has dropped by approximately 90% over two decades.3
Where geostationary satellites once served only governments and telecoms at enormous expense and risk, today low-earth orbit (LEO) constellations deliver broadband to vast audiences, beam intelligence to military operators in real time, and—in the foreseeable future—may host AI data centers and manufacturing facilities.
The space economy is not a concept. It is infrastructure, and it is being built now.
Growth of this magnitude rarely has a single catalyst. Five reinforcing drivers explain why the space economy is accelerating now—and why that acceleration is poised to continue.
1. Falling Launch Costs
After stagnating for decades, the cost of reaching orbit has dropped by roughly 90% in the past 20 years.3 Reusable rockets, commercial competition, and ongoing technical advances have each contributed. This single fact is transformational: It makes viable what was previously unthinkable, from low-cost satellite constellations to eventual space-based AI infrastructure.
The numbers tell the story. Annual objects launched into space rose from roughly 130 per year in the 1990s to more than 4,500 in 2025—a more than 30x increase, with the sharpest acceleration coming in the last five years.⁴ Lower costs did not merely make existing missions cheaper; they make entirely new categories of missions viable.
Space Activity Has Taken Off
Annual number of objects launched into space1
2. SpaceX Exceptionalism
One company sits at the center of this transformation. SpaceX has grown from a point of curiosity to accounting for more than half of all successful orbital launches globally—a position achieved in under 15 years.2 Its Starlink constellation, now comprising approximately 9,400 satellites in LEO with plans to expand to more than 40,000, is the dominant satellite broadband network on Earth.5 A widely anticipated IPO, reportedly set for June,6 could be the most significant public offering in history.
3. The Connectivity Revolution
The satellite communications market is undergoing a structural shift, from a small number of expensive legacy satellites to vast, low-latency LEO networks that can reach anywhere on Earth. The total addressable market (TAM) for satellite communications is projected to grow from approximately $14 billion in 2022 to nearly $68 billion by 2030—an 18% compound annual growth rate.7
4. Sovereign Security
Defense spending in space is no longer confined to a U.S.-China story. In an increasingly multipolar world, governments across Europe and Asia are accelerating sovereign space programs with multi-year budget commitments. Germany unveiled its first space strategy with more than $40 billion committed by 2030.7 France, Italy and Japan have pledged significant commitments of their own. This broadening of sovereign demand creates a durable, government-underwritten revenue floor for the industry.
5. Exploration Becomes Reality
With reusable rockets driving down launch costs toward the price of fuel alone, the possibilities are nearly endless. Private lunar missions are already underway. Mars exploration programs are funded and advancing. Point-to-point travel anywhere on Earth in under 45 minutes—once science fiction—has been proposed by SpaceX as a future commercial application for Starship.
SpaceX requires its own discussion. No other company—public or private—occupies a comparable position in the global space economy, and no other space ETF offers transparent and direct access to it.
The company recorded its first successful orbital launch in 2009. By 2024, SpaceX accounted for 134 of the world's 252 successful orbital launches2—more than every other operator on Earth combined—with most carrying large payloads that account for the thousands of objects shown in the previous chart. No other entity has moved so fast, or so completely redefined the competitive landscape. That lead is structural: SpaceX's vertical integration, proprietary reusable rocket technology, and the Starlink constellation it built on the back of cheap launches create compounding advantages that no rival is close to matching.
SpaceX Has Single-Handedly Accelerated Launch Activity
Annual number of successful orbital launches
Source: Morgan Stanley Global Embodied AI Team, Dec 2025.
The Tema Space Innovators ETF (NASA) invests across six distinct pillars of the modern space economy, each with a clear investment rationale and rigorous screening criteria. Together, they are designed to capture the full breadth of commercial space activity—not just the headline names.
| Pillar | Portfolio Company |
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SpaceX |
A singular force in the global space economy. The dominant launch provider, operator of the world's largest satellite constellation, and arguably the most anticipated IPO in history. | |
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Launch & Propulsion Rockets and propulsion systems power the new space economy |
Rocket Lab is a leading end-to-end space company that designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and satellite systems for commercial and government customers. As the only scaled domestic alternative to SpaceX, it is vertically integrated across launch and spacecraft manufacturing. Its upcoming Neutron rocket would open the medium-lift market and position the company as a more direct competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. |
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Satellite Manufacturers Building the hardware that forms the backbone of space infrastructure |
OHB SE is a leading European aerospace group specializing in the development and integration of satellites for missions ranging from environmental monitoring to military reconnaissance. Its most compelling near-term catalyst is a partnership with Rheinmetall and Airbus to build SatcomBW 4—a Starlink-style constellation for the German military—against a backdrop of Germany's $40 billion commitment to space-based defense programs through 2030.8 |
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Connectivity Satellite communications and broadband enabling global internet access from orbit
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AST SpaceMobile is a satellite communications pioneer building the world's first space-based cellular broadband network designed to be accessible directly by standard, unmodified smartphones. With agreements in place covering billions of mobile lines across major carriers like AT&T and Verizon, it addresses a large and immediate market for supplemental coverage—while also targeting the billions of subscribers currently beyond the reach of terrestrial towers entirely. |
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Intelligence Earth observation and geospatial analytics from commercial satellites |
Planet Labs is a global leader in Earth observation, operating the world's largest fleet of imaging satellites to deliver a near-continuous daily scan of every point on Earth's landmass. Its core asset is a proprietary, non-replicable archive of geospatial data that becomes increasingly valuable as AI tools unlock actionable insights from it—sold through a high-margin, subscription-based service model with minimal marginal costs per new subscriber. |
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Supply Chain Specialty components and materials critical to satellite manufacturing
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Filtronic is a UK-based designer and manufacturer of advanced radio frequency and mmWave components that enable high-capacity communication in extreme environments. As a preferred strategic supplier to SpaceX's Starlink, which accounts for an outsized share of its revenue, the company is directly levered to the growth of LEO constellation buildout. |
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The space economy moves faster than passive indices can capture. New companies emerge, business models evolve, and yesterday's technological leader can become tomorrow's casualty of disruption. Active management here is not a preference—it's how we stay ahead of the curve in an industry that never stands still:
Private Company Access: Today that means SpaceX. Tomorrow it could be the next breakout player in launch, manufacturing, or on-orbit services.
Pure-Play Focus: Every holding must be materially tied to space-economy revenues. We stay disciplined about what belongs in this portfolio.
Backbone Suppliers: We have sourced and vetted under-the-radar global suppliers that provide the materials and components used to build satellites and rockets.
Rapidly Evolving Universe: The space economy is early-stage and fast-moving. New companies, new business models—passive indices lag by design
Differentiated Approach: Our team has the breadth of experience, relationships, and analytical depth to surface opportunities before they become consensus.
No other ETF applies this level of analytical rigor to the space economy—and none offers the same combination of SpaceX access, pure-play focus, and global coverage at 0.75% per year.
The space economy is undergoing a structural transition—from an industry historically defined by government budgets and legacy aerospace contractors to one driven by commercial innovation, private capital, and rapidly expanding addressable markets. That transition is already well underway. The cost curves that made Starlink possible are now pointing toward data centers and manufacturing facilities in space, powered by near-limitless solar energy—less than one-billionth of the sun's total output ever reaches Earth.9
The investment opportunity is real, large, and importantly, underrepresented in most portfolios. Passive space ETFs miss SpaceX entirely and carry meaningful exposure to legacy aerospace and defense businesses. NASA was designed to fill this gap: A pure-play, transparent, actively managed ETF giving investors the full breadth of the modern space economy, anchored by the most important private company in the world.
The Tema Space Innovators ETF (NASA) invests in a portfolio of high-conviction space companies, including a direct pre-IPO position in SpaceX. The fund is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and available through any major brokerage platform, in a transparent, SEC-regulated ETF structure. Investors pay a single 0.75% management fee—with no additional commissions or pass-through fees to access SpaceX.
For fund information, holdings, and the prospectus, visit the NASA fund page.