The thesis
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.
The market stares at the obvious names. The binding constraints sit further upstream, where a handful of companies own each physical chokepoint — and most of them are not household names. That is exactly the point.
We walk the supply chain layer by layer. For each link we ask the same three questions: who physically owns the choke, what it would take for someone else to credibly compete, and what the next catalyst is that forces the market to reprice.
The answers land on a living map of 48 listed companies across 10 chokepoints — each with a conviction tier, a bull and bear case, a catalyst path, and the source trail behind every mapping. It is a research map, not a portfolio. Own the strait, not the tanker.
The chokepoints
- IRad-hard & space-grade silicon
Space electronics must survive radiation no commercial fab designs for; the qualified supplier list is short and defense-gated.
- IISpace-grade solar & power
Multi-junction space solar cells come from two or three qualified suppliers; constellation demand outstrips germanium-wafer capacity.
- IIIPropulsion & propellants
Engines and storable propellants concentrate in a few qualified lines; hydrazine alternatives and Hall-effect thrusters have single-digit benches.
- IVLaser comms & optical terminals
Inter-satellite laser links are becoming mandatory for LEO constellations; qualified terminal suppliers are scarce.
- VAtomic clocks & space PNT
Every GNSS and alt-PNT constellation routes through space-qualified atomic clocks from a tiny supplier set.
- VIGround segment & direct-to-device
Constellations are worthless without gateways, phased arrays and spectrum; the ground layer is consolidating fast.
- VIILaunch & reusability
The visible layer everyone prices: launch capacity is SpaceX plus a thin bench of listed challengers with dated manifests.
- VIIIIn-space infrastructure & servicing
Docking, refueling, debris capture and orbital transfer are pre-revenue but program-funded; the qualified bench is tiny.
- IXEarth observation & space data
Sensing constellations with government anchor contracts own a data chokepoint that reprices on every NRO/NGA award.
- XPrivate 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.