BlackRock launches an ETF specialized in the space economy
10 JUN, 2026
By Joanna Piwko from RankiaPro Europe
The manager BlackRock has announced the launch of the iShares Space Technologies UCITS ETF (STAR), an investment vehicle designed to offer European investors exposure to the growing global space economy. The fund replicates the STOXX Global Space Satellites and Drones index, which groups companies involved in the manufacture of rockets, satellites and drones, as well as companies in their supply chain.
The launch comes at a time when the space sector is undergoing a structural transformation: what for decades was almost exclusively the domain of governments has become an expanding industrial ecosystem, driven by public agencies, large defense groups and a growing wave of private capital.
The underlying index applies a double layer of selection:
- On the one hand, it uses FactSet RBICS sectoral income classifications to identify companies that obtain at least 25% of their turnover from activities related to space, drones or satellites.
- On the other hand, it incorporates supply chain relationship data to capture companies with significant exposure to the space ecosystem even if they do not meet this threshold of direct income.
The goal is to achieve complete coverage of the value chain, from shuttle manufacturers to suppliers of critical components.
The mechanism that differentiates STAR: quick access to IPOs
One of the most notable features of the fund is its quick entry mechanism for initial public offerings (IPO fast-entry). Typically, companies that debut on public markets are not immediately incorporated into benchmark indices, which creates a lag between the time they start trading and when they become accessible to indexed investors. STAR solves this problem through intra-rebalancing reviews that allow eligible securities to be incorporated within 10 to 30 days from their IPO, without having to wait for the next periodic rebalancing.
As launch costs decrease and satellite adoption increases, the space economy is consolidating as an increasingly important long-term investment theme. STAR encompasses the entire space value chain, from rockets and satellites to autonomous technologies, where each layer supports the next. STAR's priority access and thematic purity create a differentiated way to participate in this growing set of opportunities.
Omar Moufti, thematic and sectoral product strategist at BlackRock
