Since SpaceX went public, it feels like the entire space sector is being repriced around it. Companies like Rocket Lab used to benefit from scarcity. If you wanted public-market exposure to commercial space, there weren’t many credible options.

Now investors can compare them directly against a company with:

• dominant launch market share
• Starlink
• much larger scale
• faster revenue growth
• a far more established operating history

And that changes the question. So instead of asking, “Is Rocket Lab a good space company?” investors now have to ask, “Why own Rocket Lab instead of SpaceX?”

That doesn’t mean smaller players can’t outperform. In fact, SpaceX’s dominance could create demand for alternatives. But I think its IPO permanently changed how every other public space company gets valued.

So has SpaceX become the Nvidia of the space sector, the benchmark everyone else now has to justify themselves against?