Historically, space exploration and putting satellites into orbit has been within the purview of government-funded agencies like NASA.
That's changing, though. For-profit corporations can handle this work at least as cost-effectively as government-run organizations can. Elon Musk's SpaceX recently facilitated the world's first-ever private citizen spacewalk, for example, while Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is mainstreaming space tourism. Blue Origin's newest rocket will even soon be launching two Mars probes for NASA.
This is only the beginning of privatized work in outer space, now that technology not only allows for it, but necessitates it. Market research outfits Polaris and Precedence agree that launch services alone will be roughly a $50 billion-per-year business within a decade. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley and Citi both predict that the entirety of the science, technology, and services businesses linked to space will be worth on the order of $1 trillion by 2040.
Connect the dots. There's real investment opportunity here.
The top opportunities, however, aren't likely to be the obvious names. The potential millionaire-making space stocks are likely to be the lower-profile stocks that could even be considered a little off the radar. Here's a closer look at three of your better bets among such prospects.
Rocket Lab USA
It may not be a household name, but Rocket Lab USA(NASDAQ: RKLB) has been very busy for quite some time now. Since its very first launch in May 2017, this company has put over 190 satellites into orbit. Its technology (like software, solar panels, radios, etc.) is also found inside more than 1,700 different satellites, as well as the James Webb Space Telescope. The two aforementioned Mars probes will also be flying with Rocket Lab tech on board.
While there's a clear market for satellite launches, Rocket Lab's been at it for a while. For any ticker to offer real millionaire-making potential, the company must mostly be undiscovered. That, or it needs to be doing something new that most investors don't yet fully appreciate. In this case it's the latter.
To date, all of this company's launches have utilized its so-called Electron rocket. It's perfectly fine for putting small satellites into orbit, but it's not powerful enough to lift larger satellites, exploration craft, or people into space.
That's coming, though. The Neutron rocket expected to start flying next year will be a so-called medium-lift vehicle capable of carrying bigger machinery. In fact, it will even be able to provide the initial liftoff for missions to Mars and Venus. The Neutron rocket will also be reusable, making it cost-effective for the company as well as its customers. Perhaps most important, the soon-to-launch Neutron rocket will provide real competition to SpaceX, which currently dominates the medium-lift market.
And interest is definitely firming up even before its first commercial flight. The U.S. Space Force has already provided funding to co-develop an upper stage of Rocket Lab's Neutron rocket as part of the Department of Defense's efforts to ensure it's able to secure and defend the United States wherever and however it needs to.
AST SpaceMobile
AST SpaceMobile(NASDAQ: ASTS) isn't nearly as far along as Rocket Lab USA is on the commercialization front. In fact, the company only recently launched its first-ever commercial satellites. These certainly won't be the last, however, now that the underlying technology has been proven and perfected.
It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Whereas Rocket Lab designs tech for others' satellites as well as a means of putting them into orbit, as the name implies, AST SpaceMobile offers mobile broadband connectivity via satellites rather than cellphone towers. This tech is capable of connecting anyone to the worldwide web regardless of where they are -- no physical infrastructure (other than a functioning, web-capable phone) required.
At first blush, it seems like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. You likely don't have any trouble connecting to the web, whether that be with your phone or a computer. That's not necessarily the norm, however, and that line of thinking underestimates a growing challenge.
See, as the world becomes increasingly connected -- including our cars -- our telecom infrastructure is being pushed to its limits. Much of the developed world is now running low on radio frequencies to assign to mobile phones and cell towers. Offloading this data traffic to fiberoptic connections has certainly helped, but handling such constant switchovers en masse can be technically complex as well, and still won't fully meet future needs.
There's also the not-so-small matter that such connectivity frameworks are vulnerable to power outages and other sorts of disruption.
Satellite-based connectivity, however, sidesteps many of those problems. It's not exactly a new idea, either. Even if not always practical or affordable for the average consumer, satellite-driven mobile phone connectivity has been around since the 90s.
Now that it's practical as well as affordable, Polaris Market Research believes this market is poised to grow at an average annual pace of 18% through 2032. AST SpaceMobile is smack-dab in the middle of this mainstreaming movement.
Intuitive Machines
Last but not least, add Intuitive Machines(NASDAQ: LUNR) to your list of space-related stocks that could turn out to be millionaire makers.
In some ways, Intuitive Machines is the riskiest of the three stocks in question simply due to its small size and young age. Its market capitalization is a mere $375 million, and while it's now producing annual revenue in the same ballpark following its founding in 2013, it's also still operating in the red with only a little over $30 million worth of cash in the bank.
In other ways, though, Intuitive Machines is arguably the least risky of these three stocks just because it's also operating the most practical, currently marketable business. Simply put, this company is helping for-profit organizations and government agencies get back to the Moon. Whether that's drones that land on the Moon to map it or a means of putting communication satellites in a lunar orbit, Intuitive Machines has a solution.
It's prescient, too, given that the Moon has moved back into focus as the world's next space-exploration point of interest, perhaps as a place to mine or colonize, or perhaps as a test run for a manned mission to Mars.
Indeed, NASA's Artemis rocket designed specifically to return mankind to the Moon is still slated to do so sometime in the latter part of 2025 or 2026. This voyage will partially be made possible with the help Intuitive Machines has already provided and will provide in the future. The company recently announced a $117 million contract to deliver six different payloads to the Moon for NASA.
This is still just the beginning. Analysts believe growing interest in Moon trips will drive enough revenue growth for Intuitive Machines to push it out of the red and into the black by 2026. Reaching that milestone could easily send this stock on a rocket ride, so to speak.
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Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Rocket Lab USA. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
