A public research surface · updated continuously
The orbital economy will be won by whoever owns the chokepoints.
Rad-hard silicon, space-grade solar, propellant, optical terminals, atomic clocks, ground stations. Space Bottlenecks maps the physical supply chain behind every constellation — and the listed companies that own each choke. Own the strait, not the tanker.
48 names tracked · 10 chokepoints · free, no login
The chokepoints
I
Rad-hard & space-grade silicon
Space electronics must survive radiation no commercial fab designs for; the qualified supplier list is short and defense-gated.
FRONTGRADE · BAESY · MCHP · TXN · TDY · STM · MRCY
II
Space-grade solar & power
Multi-junction space solar cells come from two or three qualified suppliers; constellation demand outstrips germanium-wafer capacity.
RKLB · FPLSF · UMICY · RDW · BA · SPCX
III
Propulsion & propellants
Engines and storable propellants concentrate in a few qualified lines; hydrazine alternatives and Hall-effect thrusters have single-digit benches.
RKLB · KRMN · LHX · MOG.A · RDW · SPCX
IV
Laser comms & optical terminals
Inter-satellite laser links are becoming mandatory for LEO constellations; qualified terminal suppliers are scarce.
CACI · RKLB · IONQ · VSAT · LHX · TSAT · SPCX
V
Atomic clocks & space PNT
Every GNSS and alt-PNT constellation routes through space-qualified atomic clocks from a tiny supplier set.
FEIM · MCHP · IRDM · SITM · EXCELITAS · XONASPACE
VI
Ground segment & direct-to-device
Constellations are worthless without gateways, phased arrays and spectrum; the ground layer is consolidating fast.
GILT · ASTS · VSAT · GSAT · SGBAF · CMTL
VII
Launch & reusability
The visible layer everyone prices: launch capacity is SpaceX plus a thin bench of listed challengers with dated manifests.
SPCX · RKLB · FLY · NOC · LHX · DXYZ · XOVR · VCX
VIII
In-space infrastructure & servicing
Docking, refueling, debris capture and orbital transfer are pre-revenue but program-funded; the qualified bench is tiny.
NOC · MDA · ASRHF · RDW · LUNR · ORBITFAB
IX
Earth observation & space data
Sensing constellations with government anchor contracts own a data chokepoint that reprices on every NRO/NGA award.
PL · BKSY · SATL · SPIR · VANTOR
X
Private giants & exposure vehicles
SpaceX just went public — but Blue Origin, Anduril-space, Sierra, Axiom and K2 still anchor private cap tables; map the listed paths in.
SPCX · DXYZ · XOVR · VCX · BLUEORIGIN · AXIOMSPACE · K2SPACE · SIERRASPACE
Latest brief · 2026-09-11
A U.S. grant for domestic gallium-arsenide production lifted 5N Plus while rate-sensitive satellite operators sold off.
The space basket's leader owned the materials chokepoint. 5N Plus (FPLSF) rose 5.1% to $19.25 after being selected for roughly US$7.3 million in U.S. government funding to establish domestic production of gallium-arsenide electro-optical components at its St. George, Utah facility, with a sell-side desk reiterating a Buy and a $44 target. This is the III-V materials strait — the germanium and gallium-arsenide substrates behind space-grade solar cells, infrared optics, and radiation-hardened detectors — and Washington paying to onshore it is exactly the kind of policy tailwind that reprices a supplier when China holds the export controls. It bucked a broadly red tape: the indices fell for a fourth straight day, WTI cleared $100, and Fed funds futures priced roughly a 73% chance of a rate hike next week.
The laggard was the small-sat operating layer. Satellogic (SATL) fell 5.8% to $4.70, the steepest decline in the basket — a thin line, but part of a clear sell in rate-sensitive, pre-scale space names: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) −4.0% to $59.91, BlackSky (BKSY) −4.0% to $20.75, and Planet Labs (PL) −3.1% to $16.69. These are the constellation-and-downlink businesses whose value sits years out in deployed capacity, and a higher-rate, higher-oil session discounts that horizon first. No company-specific break drove it; it was duration being marked down.
The split by revenue model was sharp. The funded comms-and-integration end held up: Viasat (VSAT) rose 2.5% to $74.18, CACI International (CACI) gained 2.8% to $624.01, SiTime (SITM) added 2.1%, and Redwire (RDW) rose 1.6%. The read is the same one running across the hard-tech verticals today — the market rewarded contracted, near-cash-flow names and the onshoring-of-materials trade, and cut the speculative capacity builders.
The calendar is dense and immediate. Planet Labs reports Q2 FY2027 on September 14, a direct test of the earth-observation demand the tape just marked down, and Astroscale's APS-R Space Force refueler is set to launch to GEO around September 15. Satellogic's first AI-first constellation satellite is targeted for October 31 — the deployment its own selloff was pricing against. Further out, China's suspension of the germanium/gallium export ban expires November 27, the date that bears directly on 5N Plus's onshoring thesis, and SpaceX's post-IPO lock-up fully expires December 9.