Elon Musk is pushing back on Wall Street’s already ambitious projections for the space economy, saying the sector will grow far beyond Goldman Sachs’ $1.8 trillion estimate.
Musk made the remarks on X in response to a post about Goldman’s “Second Space Age” report, writing “It will be much bigger,” before adding, “Space is bigger than big. Earth is super tiny by comparison.”
Goldman Sachs projects the global space economy will reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven by the rising importance of orbital infrastructure across communications, defense, artificial intelligence and logistics.
“Space is becoming a new pillar of the industrial economy,” Goldman said, noting that companies controlling launch capacity, satellite production, orbital infrastructure and space-derived data will influence where value accumulates.
The sector attracted more than $55 billion in investment in 2025 and set a record with $36 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone, while aerospace companies raised $89 billion through IPOs since the start of 2025.
Goldman also highlighted a dramatic drop in launch costs, pointing to a decline from $65,400 per kilogram aboard the Space Shuttle in 1981 to $1,500 using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy today.
Shares of AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), Rocket Lab (RKLB), Intuitive Machines (LUNR) and Redwire (RDW) were in focus following Musk’s comments, though all four stocks pulled back on Tuesday.
ASTS fell 6%, LUNR declined 5%, while RKLB and RDW each dropped 4% during the session.
AST SpaceMobile is building a broadband constellation designed to connect directly to ordinary smartphones, with partnerships spanning more than 60 mobile operators covering over 3 billion subscribers and a contracted backlog of $1.3 billion.
The company currently has 13 large communications satellites in orbit and is scaling production toward six satellites per month as it builds out its low-Earth-orbit network.
Rocket Lab reported record quarterly revenue of $234 million and a backlog of $2.36 billion, with recent contract wins including $397 million and $266 million Space Force deals alongside a $143 million MDA Space contract supporting Globalstar’s direct-to-device network.
Intuitive Machines received authorization to proceed on a multi-satellite communications program worth more than $600 million, expanding its reach beyond lunar landers into Earth science, defense spacecraft and communications infrastructure.
Redwire posted record quarterly revenue of $117.1 million, a record gross margin of 27.8% and a contracted backlog of $542.1 million, while also targeting microgravity drug development through its SpaceMD business.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward ASTS, RKLB and RDW was “bearish” amid low message volume, while LUNR bucked the trend with “extremely bullish” sentiment and “extremely high” chatter.
Over the past year, LUNR surged 113%, RKLB climbed 76%, RDW gained 43% and ASTS rose 39%, reflecting broad investor interest in the expanding space sector.
