3 Space ETFs for the Space Industry's Next Launch

The space industry was expected to take off following the blockbuster initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX (SPCX). But instead, we've gotten a failure to launch.

Elon Musk's aerospace manufacturing company, which also provides satellite communications and launch services, went public at a valuation of $1.8 trillion and raised a record $75 billion. But after a quick swelling in shares, the company has plunged to well below its IPO price, taking much of the rest of the industry with it.

Still, the industry boasts plenty of growth potential. McKinsey, for instance, estimates the global space economy will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035, or about triple the $630 billion it was worth in 2023.

Like with many emergent technologies, investors could try to pick winners and hope they don't hitch their wagons to the names that eventually fizzle out … or they could consider some of the best space ETFs to profit from growth across the industry.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

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3 of Our Favorite Space ETFs

While the commercial space industry has existed in some form since before most of us were born, space ETFs have really only existed for less than a decade.

And they typically share a few common traits:

• Similar holdings. The space industry, while hardly nascent, isn't exactly widespread. Most of these ETFs hold only a few dozen companies, and many of them play in the same pool.
• Similar sector weights. Along the same lines, space ETFs tend to allocate a huge chunk of their assets to industrial/defense companies, with the rest going to communications and technology firms.
• Similar fees. "Thematic" funds that focus on specific investment opportunities that span a few different sectors often charge more than broad-market funds. All of the funds here assess annual fees between 0.35% and 0.75% annually, with several charging that top-end number.

That doesn't mean there aren't meaningful variations now—but like with many thematic funds, these space ETFs will likely differentiate themselves even more if and when the space industry expands.

With that in mind, let's look at three selections from my broader list of the best space ETFs.

ETFs are listed in order of assets under management (AUM), from largest to smallest.

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Procure Space ETF

• Inception: April 11, 2019
• Assets under management: $595.6 million
• Expense ratio: 0.75%, or $7.50 per year on every $1,000 invested

Procure Space ETF (UFO), from market veteran Andrew Chanin's ETF firm, ProcureAM, is the second-largest space-specific ETF, and one of the oldest.

The Procure Space ETF tracks the VettaFi Space Index, which allocates at least 80% of its weight to "companies that derive a majority of revenues from space-related industries, including those companies utilizing satellite technology." Among those industries?

• Ground equipment manufacturing dependent upon satellite systems
• Rocket and satellite manufacturing and operation
• Satellite-based telecommunications, radio, and television broadcasting
• Space industry segments—space-based imagery and intelligence services
• Space technology and hardware

UFO's portfolio currently stands at 65 stocks. From a sector perspective, industrials make up half of UFO's assets, and the rest is split evenly between technology and communications. This is also a global fund, with the U.S. accounting for about three-quarters of assets, and a handful of other countries—including Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan, among others—making up the rest.

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Right now, top holdings include the likes of Trimble (TRMB), a positioning and modeling company; Viasat (VSAT), which provides satellite communications solutions, wireless communications, and content delivery; and longtime satellite radio firm SiriusXM Holdings (SIRI). SpaceX also makes the top-10, at a roughly 4% weight.

Procure also spells out how the fund could evolve over time if and when new space businesses become possible and viable. Among the potential industries the ETF could eventually reflect are space tourism, space-based military and defense systems, space colonization, and space resource exploration and extraction.

The Procure Space ETF hit the markets seven years ago, and it might have been ahead of its time. In a recent Reuters report, Chanin noted that "UFO was labeled the worst ETF launch of the year by Morningstar in 2019." It boasted less than $100 million in AUM for most of its first six years of trading and only had $170 million as of the start of 2026.

Today, UFO is worth well more than three times as much, and UFO actually surpassed the billion-dollar mark earlier this year before space stocks' summer plunge. And I'd argue that the current index construction and its built-in flexibility make UFO one of the best space ETFs any of us will come across.

Related: The 16 Best ETFs to Buy for the Rest of 2026

Spear Alpha ETF

• Inception: Aug. 2, 2021
• Assets under management: $190.4 million
• Expense ratio: 0.75%, or $7.50 per year on every $1,000 invested

Launching in the same year as UFO (to far less fanfare) was the Spear Alpha ETF (SPRX), which is the lone exchange-traded fund under Ivana Delevska's Spear Funds umbrella.

The lack of hullabaloo then, and now, is largely because this isn't a pure-play space fund—instead, it invests in "companies benefiting from breakthrough trends in industrial technology." That includes space exploration, as well as other enticing growth trends such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automation. It also invests in enterprise digitalization, energy transition, and photonics and additive manufacturing.

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Spear Alpha ETF attempts to harness all of these themes across a tight portfolio of around 30 stocks, and it does so predominantly through the technology sector. Tech stocks—including engineered materials firm Coherent (COHR), and semiconductor firms Astera Labs (ALAB) and ARM Holdings (ARM)—make up about 85% of assets. The remaining 15% is split among industrials, communications, and financial services stocks.

There's a little holdings overlap with some of these other space ETFs, including SpaceX rival Rocket Lab (RKLB) and Kratos Defense & Security (KTOS), but this isn't so much a direct line to the cosmos as it is a way to invest in numerous emerging technologies … including space.

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Roundhill Space & Technology ETF

• Inception: March 5, 2026
• Assets under management: $51.4 million
• Expense ratio: 0.75%, or $7.50 per year on every $1,000 invested

Roundhill Space & Technology ETF (MARS), an actively managed product, debuted just a couple months ago and has already cobbled together almost $100 million in assets.

This is a pure-play fund that "seeks exposure to the space economy and enabling technologies, focusing on space companies powering industries reliant on space infrastructure." That means these companies are enabling things you'd expect, such as GPS, internet, and weather forecasting … but also some things you might not, such as agriculture, banking, and healthcare.

Related: Buy 'The Future': 5 Tech ETFs You Should Own

A seven-manager team oversees a 30-stock portfolio that owns the aforementioned Rocket Lab and Viasat, as well as satellite designer AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) and European space systems firm OHB. But No. 1 with a bullet is SpaceX, at more than 20% of assets.

Huge concentrations are a risk you run in actively run funds, where management typically has discretion to make outsized bets on their highest-conviction picks. MARS' investment committee is consciously betting big on SPCX, for better or worse. And in the short term, that choice has weighed like a rock on MARS' returns.

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