Sharp USD/JPY drops often force yen carry-trade unwinds. Traders who borrowed cheap yen to buy US stocks (especially tech/momentum) sell those positions to repay loans, creating short-term selling pressure and higher volatility—as in August 2024.
Today’s plunge looks like intervention. US stocks are rebounding so far, but sustained yen strength keeps the risk of further equity pressure alive.
I’ve been talking about Walter Plecker
And his role in reclassifying Native Black Indians.
But he was not alone.
There was a photographer & a millionaire
Edward Curtis and JP Morgan.
Watch how they created a false narrative and image of the Indigenous people.
Sis cookin 🔥
The Space Economy Map: Inside the $NASA ETF and Every Company You Need to Know
Space might be the most underappreciated public market theme of 2026.
A new ETF just changed the game. Ticker: $NASA. And it holds direct pre IPO exposure to SpaceX through an SPV.
🧵Let's dive in:
SpaceX filed its S1 on May 20. Targeting a $1.75T to $2T valuation. Expected to list as $SPCX on Nasdaq as early as June 12. If it prices at the top, it joins Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA as one of only four US companies above $2T on day one. $18.7B in 2025 revenue. Starlink alone did $11.4B.
This is not a speculative story anymore. This is an infrastructure buildout on the scale of the early internet, and the $NASA ETF gives you a curated portfolio of the companies making it happen.
Let me walk through every top holding and explain why each one matters.
🚀 LAUNCH & ROCKETS
$RKLB : Rocket Lab
This is the one I keep coming back to. $602M in 2025 revenue. Q1 2026 hit a record $200.3M, up 63.5% YoY. Backlog over $2.2B. GAAP gross margins at 38.2%.
Electron is already one of the most reliable small launch vehicles on the planet (87 launches, 83 successes). But the real catalyst is Neutron, their medium lift rocket targeting megaconstellation deployment. First launch planned for late 2026. Designed to compete with Falcon 9. If Neutron works, $RKLB transitions from small launch niche player to full scale competitor.
Peter Beck has quietly built one of the most complete space companies on Earth. Rockets, satellite buses (Photon), components, and now aiming for human spaceflight class capability. This is not just a launch company. This is a vertically integrated space infrastructure platform.
$FLY : Firefly Aerospace.
IPO'd August 2025. Q1 2026 revenue hit $80.9M, up 40% sequentially. Guiding $420M to $450M for the full year. Designs and manufactures launch vehicles, satellites, and lunar cargo spacecraft.
Very early in its public life but growing fast. The Artemis connection gives it long term government contract visibility. Not profitable yet, and the multiple reflects that, but the revenue trajectory is real.
🌍 EARTH OBSERVATION & DATA
$PL : Planet Labs
The largest fleet of Earth observation satellites ever deployed. Daily imaging of the entire planet's landmass. Their data feeds agriculture, forestry, defense, insurance, and climate monitoring.
Planet is the "data layer" of the space economy. If you believe Earth observation becomes as essential as GPS (and I do), Planet is the company best positioned to own that layer at scale. Revenue growth has been steady but the real unlock is when government and enterprise contracts scale alongside the constellation.
$BKSKY : BlackSky Technology
Real time geospatial intelligence. Q1 2026 revenue was $20.8M (down from $29.5M a year earlier), but they raised full year guidance to $130M+. The pivot here is toward AI powered analytics layered on top of satellite imagery.
Where Planet goes wide (image everything daily), BlackSky goes deep (real time intelligence for specific targets). Defense and intelligence community contracts are the bread and butter. Smaller than Planet but differentiated.
📡 SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
$ASTS : AST SpaceMobile
This one is wild. Building the first space based cellular broadband network that connects directly to unmodified smartphones. No special hardware needed. Your regular phone gets signal from space.
$70.9M revenue in 2025. Guiding $150M to $200M for 2026. $1.2B+ in contracted revenue commitments.
Partners include AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, and Google. FCC just authorized commercial SpaceMobile service in the US. BlueBird 6 (the largest commercial communications array ever deployed in LEO) successfully launched. On track for 45 to 60 satellites by year end 2026.
~$3.5B cash on balance sheet. 3,800+ patents. This is either one of the most important telecom infrastructure buildouts in decades or one of the most expensive bets that doesn't scale. I lean toward the former. The partner list alone tells you smart money agrees.
$VSAT : Viasat
The legacy satellite communications giant. Different thesis from $ASTS. Viasat provides broadband connectivity for airlines, military, maritime, and enterprise through geostationary and now LEO satellite fleets. More mature revenue base, but facing competitive pressure from Starlink.
The interesting angle is defense. Viasat's government contracts provide a revenue floor that pure commercial satellite plays don't have.
🌙 LUNAR & DEEP SPACE
$LUNR : Intuitive Machines
Record Q1 2026 revenue of $186.7M. Nearly 3x the prior year. The Lanteris acquisition ($800M, closed January 2026) immediately expanded capabilities into satellite communications, orbital data processing, and deep space networking. Just secured its fifth NASA CLPS task order ($180.4M) and is participating in the Space Force Andromeda program with a $6.2B ceiling.
Also acquiring Goonhilly Earth Station. This company went from "cool lunar lander startup" to "vertically integrated space infrastructure company" in about 12 months. The stock is up ~80% since January. The acquisition strategy is aggressive but so far the revenue is backing it up.
🔧 SUPPLY CHAIN & COMPONENTS
$FILTR : Filtronic PLC
This is the picks and shovels play that almost nobody outside the UK has heard of. Filtronic makes E band solid state power amplifiers for SpaceX's Starlink constellation. They have $115M+ in cumulative SpaceX contracts including a record $62.5M order signed August 2025.
Revenue more than doubled in FY2025 to £56.3M. SpaceX holds warrants over ~10% of Filtronic's share capital. 90% of FY2026 revenue already covered by contracted orders. Their GaN E band technology is difficult to replicate, making them a mandatory partner for any LEO constellation looking to compete.
If SpaceX IPOs at $1.75T+ and pours billions more into Starlink infrastructure, Filtronic's order book only grows. This is exactly the kind of name that explodes in value once the broader market discovers it.
$SNPS : 5N Plus
Specialty semiconductor and advanced materials company. Supplies critical materials for satellite solar cells and other space applications. The picks and shovels behind the picks and shovels. Lower profile but positioned in a supply chain that scales with every satellite launched.
📊 THE BIG PICTURE
The space economy is entering an inflection point driven by three converging catalysts:
The SpaceX IPO. If this prices at $1.75T+, it re rates every space related public company the way the Arm listing repriced chip IP in 2023. Every supplier, every competitor, every adjacent play gets a valuation lift.
Government spending acceleration. Defense budgets worldwide are prioritizing space. The US Space Force, NASA Artemis, European space programs. These are multi decade contract cycles, not one time events.
Commercial revenue is finally real. $ASTS has $1.2B in contracted commitments. $RKLB has $2.2B in backlog. $LUNR tripled revenue. These are no longer science projects. Revenue is being recognized.
The $NASA ETF packages all of this into one actively managed vehicle with ~20 to 40 holdings, a 0.75% expense ratio, and direct SpaceX pre IPO exposure that retail investors can't access anywhere else.
I'm not saying go all in on space. I'm saying this sector is where AI was in early 2023, before the narrative went mainstream and multiples expanded. The companies building the infrastructure already have the contracts and the revenue trajectories. The market just hasn't fully priced it in yet.
2005 Median Salary: $44,326
2025 Median Salary: $56,292
A 27% increase.
2005 Median Home Price: $220,000
2025: Median Home Price: $420,000
An over 90% increase.
6 months ago, Raoul Pal said we are in an elongated business/debt cycle and that bitcoin would climb higher and then we would see a -35% drawdown and “everyone will be sure that it is over… and it won’t be over.”
You need to watch this again.
https://t.co/KYG9OR4gHI
Accuracy isn't just a number, it's a promise.
@facticityai hits 98.3% accuracy on the Originality Benchmark after comprehensive re-auditing.
We don't just check facts. We ground truth in evidence, context, and precision.
This is how you build trust in the age of AI.