Orbit as an industrial buildout: launch costs down an order of magnitude, broadband and direct-to-device constellations, Earth observation, lunar programs, and a defense budget pivoting toward resilient space architectures and missile defense. No S&P 500 pure play exists, so the S&P leg is primes with major space segments — diluted by design; the pure plays across launch, constellations and in-space infrastructure live in the FW 3000 version. High-beta and long-duration: the basket is a read on risk appetite for the theme as much as on the theme itself.
Follow the theme against the wider market.
Series before each basket's creation date are a backtest of the membership as of creation; live tracking starts at creation.
| Return | 1 day | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days | MTD | YTD | 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basket | -1.9% | -6.8% | -11.7% | -12.9% | -9.2% | +6.8% | +2.7% |
| vs FW 3000 | -0.7% | -4.7% | -11.3% | -15.2% | -9.1% | -4.3% | -9.7% |
1y · 2025-10-16 – 2026-10-16 · 252 / 252 sessions
Basket total returns · Annualized using 252 trading sessions · 0% risk-free rate and downside target. As of 2026-10-16 · close.
Sharpe: average daily simple return divided by its sample standard deviation, multiplied by √252. The risk-free rate is assumed to be 0%; this is not a cash-adjusted ratio.
Sortino: average daily simple return divided by downside deviation, multiplied by √252. Downside deviation is the square root of the average squared shortfall below 0%, counting all sessions, including zeros for gains.
Historical volatility: √(252 × average squared daily log return), matching the Vol page’s realized-volatility convention. This differs from the sample standard deviation used in Sharpe.
Each period requires complete history and at least 5 sessions. MTD and YTD follow the calendar; 1y is 252 sessions. Missing data or an undefined ratio displays — with a reason. Short periods can produce unstable ratios; intraday snapshots include a partial session. History before this basket’s creation is backtested. If a new basket has no stored daily return series yet, estimates from its rounded published chart levels are marked ≈.
Current members and the reasoning behind each inclusion. Returns are for individual holdings.
| Why it’s included | Added | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMTLockheed Martin Corporation | Space segment prime: Orion, GPS III, missile-warning birds and the other half of ULA | +3.7% | +8.3% | +3.5% | +16.2% | 2026-07-21 |
| TDYTeledyne Technologies Incorporated | Space-qualified imaging and detectors (Teledyne e2v — Webb's sensors) for EO and science payloads | -0.2% | +0.8% | +2.5% | +21.1% | 2026-07-21 |
| LHXL3Harris Technologies, Inc. | Aerojet Rocketdyne propulsion (RL10, RS-25) plus responsive-space payloads | +3.3% | +4.9% | +0.5% | -14.3% | 2026-07-21 |
| RTXRTX Corporation | Missile-warning and space sensor payloads; Blue Canyon smallsats — the diluted sensor leg | +3.7% | +4.3% | -0.0% | +6.9% | 2026-07-21 |
| GSATGlobalstar, Inc. | Apple-funded satellite services plus terrestrial spectrum (Globalstar) | -0.7% | -1.7% | -0.6% | +35.0% | 2026-07-21 |
| NOCNorthrop Grumman Corporation | Space Systems: satellites, solid boosters, Cygnus resupply and classified constellations | +4.0% | +8.1% | -1.4% | -7.7% | 2026-07-21 |
| LDOSLeidos Holdings, Inc. | NASA services prime plus Dynetics space and hypersonics hardware | +0.7% | +2.6% | -2.2% | -30.2% | 2026-07-21 |
| KRMNKarman Holdings Inc. | Payload fairings, separation systems and propulsion components across launch and missile programs (Karman) | +2.3% | +6.4% | -3.0% | -52.6% | 2026-07-21 |
| BAThe Boeing Company | Defense & space prime: satellites, Starliner, SLS core stage and half of ULA | +0.8% | -0.1% | -4.0% | -12.4% | 2026-07-21 |
| IRDMIridium Communications Inc. | L-band incumbent: 66-satellite constellation with a government-services annuity (Iridium) | -2.7% | -7.8% | -6.4% | +155.0% | 2026-07-21 |
| KTOSKratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. | OpenSpace satellite ground software plus hypersonic test vehicles (Kratos) | -0.8% | -4.6% | -14.8% | -46.8% | 2026-07-21 |
| PLPlanet Labs PBC | Daily-revisit Earth-observation constellation turning imagery into a data subscription (Planet Labs) | -6.7% | -21.1% | -17.4% | -31.2% | 2026-07-21 |
| SATS | Hughes satellite broadband fleet plus the spectrum trove (EchoStar) | -3.9% | -17.5% | -18.9% | -8.1% | 2026-07-21 |
| BKSYBlackSky Technology Inc. | High-revisit geospatial intelligence for defense and intel customers (BlackSky) | -6.1% | -17.2% | -20.1% | -7.6% | 2026-07-21 |
| FLYFirefly Aerospace Inc. | Alpha launch and Blue Ghost lunar landers — the first fully successful commercial Moon landing (Firefly) | -6.1% | -16.2% | -20.1% | -25.1% | 2026-07-21 |
| RKLBRocket Lab USA, Inc. | Electron/Neutron launch plus vertically integrated satellites — the listed pure-play prime (Rocket Lab) | -8.0% | -25.5% | -21.3% | -27.1% | 2026-07-21 |
| SPIRSpire Global, Inc. | RF-sensing smallsats: weather, maritime and aviation data (Spire Global) | -3.8% | -12.9% | -21.5% | +19.3% | 2026-07-21 |
| RDWRedwire Corp | In-space infrastructure: solar arrays, RPO and national-security space components (Redwire) | -5.8% | -12.4% | -21.9% | +10.4% | 2026-07-21 |
| LUNRIntuitive Machines, Inc. | CLPS lunar landers and NASA near-space network services (Intuitive Machines) | -6.8% | -18.3% | -22.6% | -33.6% | 2026-07-21 |
| VSATViasat, Inc. | GEO broadband and defense satcom (Viasat–Inmarsat) | -4.3% | -18.3% | -23.0% | +70.7% | 2026-07-21 |
| VOYGVoyager Technologies, Inc. | Starlab commercial-station developer plus defense space tech (Voyager) | -5.3% | -7.0% | -29.3% | -3.0% | 2026-07-21 |
| ASTSAST SpaceMobile, Inc. | Direct-to-device broadband constellation with carrier partners (AST SpaceMobile) | -8.5% | -20.2% | -30.5% | -44.0% | 2026-07-21 |
No longer in the selected universe; awaiting membership review: SATS.
Partial price histories: FLY from 2025-08-07, KRMN from 2025-02-13, LUNR from 2021-11-17, PL from 2021-04-26, RDW from 2021-01-14, RKLB from 2020-11-24, SATS from 2018-12-03, SPIR from 2020-11-04, VOYG from 2025-06-11.
Equal-weighted; monthly rebalance, buy-and-hold between rebalances; dated membership changes reset the target weights.
Tracked since 2026-07-21. Membership decisions are documented below.
Read the methodology →Basket returns include dividends. “vs FW 3000” compares the basket’s compounded growth with the benchmark’s. Green means positive; red means negative.
Cross-checked against UFO. Daily return correlation: 0.83 across 1707 sessions. the listed pure-play space fund; global constituents (Eutelsat, MDA, iQPS) vs our US-only universes, and none of our prime-segment exposure
Initial composition: 22 names. S&P 500 leg is primes with major space segments (BA, LMT, NOC, LHX, RTX, TDY, LDOS) — diluted by design, since no S&P 500 pure play exists. FW 3000 leg is the pure plays: launch (RKLB, FLY), constellations and satcom (ASTS, IRDM, GSAT, VSAT, SATS), Earth observation (PL, BKSY, SPIR), lunar and in-space infrastructure (LUNR, RDW, VOYG), components (KRMN) and ground software (KTOS). Reference pinned to UFO. Considered and excluded: AMZN (Kuiper is a top-3 constellation buildout but immaterial to the equity), GD (ground segment only), MOG-A (space is a minority of a mostly-aircraft business), HWM and GE (engines, not space), SPCE (below the FW 3000 cap cutoff), DXYZ (closed-end fund wrapper on private SpaceX shares, not an operating company). SpaceX, Blue Origin and Sierra Space are private — the theme's biggest actors are unlisted, which is exactly why the listed pure plays carry scarcity premiums.