J Mission
The Indexes
Deterministic space-economy indicators. Every figure is computed in code from cited sources and stamped 2026-07-21 — numbers are never invented; the commentary is AI-assisted. Not financial advice. See Methodology & Data Sources.
The J Mission Index · Flagship
How far are we to a self-sustaining cislunarCislunar — The region of space between Earth and the Moon, including lunar orbit — the arena J Mission tracks. economy?
Cheap, abundant access to orbit — gated on cost per kg, because high cadence and reusabilityReusability — Recovering and reflying rocket hardware instead of throwing it away — the key to cheaper access to space. are only means to that end. You don't know access is solved until the price falls.
From a single government station to long-term, high-scale habitation — and ultimately a LEO economy that pays for itself without a government anchor tenantAnchor tenant — A large, reliable customer — often a government — whose guaranteed business makes a venture financially viable..
Orbital transfer, propellant transferPropellant transfer — Moving rocket fuel between vehicles or depots in orbit — needed to refuel for deep-space trips., and depots — built out until in-space logistics is a routinely-purchased commercial service, not a one-off demo.
Cargo and crew between Earth and the Moon — from first commercial landers to routine transport that is economically self-sustaining, not government-dependent.
Comms/PNT relays, power, and habitats — standing infrastructure that ultimately operates as commercial service, not a government installation.
Turning lunar ice and regolith into water, oxygen, and propellant — the goal isn't a demo, it's ISRU that's economically cheaper than shipping from Earth.
The proof it's an economy and not a program: how much off-Earth activity pays for itself with non-government revenue. CSIS's central doubt — and the hardest pillar.
0–100 distance to a self-sustaining cislunarCislunar — The region of space between Earth and the Moon, including lunar orbit — the arena J Mission tracks. economy · 7 pillars, weighted · continuous indicators (GCATGCAT — The General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects — an authoritative launch and payload catalog kept by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.) normalized distance-to-target + cited milestone checklists (OECD/JRCOECD / EC-JRC handbook — The standard recipe for building a composite indicator: a stated framework, explicit normalization, and transparent weights.) · editorial composite, not a forecast
Launch Cadence Index
SpaceX Dominance
Space-Economy Growth
Space News Heat
J Mission Space Stock Index
Tiingo · live · as of 2026-07-20A 16-name, equal-weightEqual-weight — Giving every company the same weight, so one giant doesn't dominate the average. basket of US-listed pure-playPure-play (space company) — A company whose business is mostly space, not a big conglomerate with a small space side. space companies, rebasedRebased to 100 — Setting the starting point to 100 so the value reads directly as percent change — 120 means up 20%. to 100 on 2024-01-02 and chain-linkedChain-linked — Splicing an index across membership changes (like a new IPO) so additions don't cause an artificial jump.through IPOs. The number that matters isn’t the level — it’s how the cohort runs relative to the broad market. Not investment advice.
DispersionDispersion — The spread between the best and worst performers in the basket. — total return since base / IPO
Sub-sector sub-indexes
Method · equal-weight average of split/dividend-adjusted price ratios, chain-linked at membership changes (OECD index practice). Prices are used to compute the index internally; we publish only the index level and percentage returns — never raw prices. Micro-caps excluded from the headline. SpaceX (SPCX) has been a constituent since its first trading day, June 12, 2026. Data sourced by Tiingo.
Methodology & Components
175 orbital launches so far this year (day 202 of 2026); on pace for ~316 vs the all-time record of 324 (2025).
Method · Launch Library 2 (live) + SpaceNews (excl. suborbital Starship)
SpaceX has flown 86 of 175 global orbital launches this year (~49.1%; 2025: 50.9%). On mass to orbitUpmass — The total mass of payloads launched to orbit — a measure of how much we're actually lifting into space., SpaceX's own investor filings (S-1S-1 filing — The financial document a company files with US regulators before going public — a cited primary source.) claim >80% every year since 2023 — we present the launch-count share, not a disputed tonnage.
Method · Launch Library 2 (live) + SpaceNews
A 0–100 compositeComposite index — A single score blended from several different measures. of 6 real-activity streams for the latest full year (2025) — orbital launches, active launch providers, satellites deployed, upmass to orbitUpmass — The total mass of payloads launched to orbit — a measure of how much we're actually lifting into space., crewed launches, and satellites on orbit — each measured year-over-yearYoY (year-over-year) — Compared with the same point one year earlier., then min-max normalizedMin-max normalization — Rescaling each measure to a 0–100 range over its own history so no single volatile number dominates a composite. over its 2016–2025 history so no single high-variance stream dominates (OECD/JRCOECD / EC-JRC handbook — The standard recipe for building a composite indicator: a stated framework, explicit normalization, and transparent weights. distance-to-range). Activity grew ~+25.3% in 2025. Market performance is tracked separately in the J Mission Space Stock Index. Source: GCATGCAT — The General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects — an authoritative launch and payload catalog kept by astronomer Jonathan McDowell. (McDowell) + Space-TrackSpace-Track — The US Space Force's official catalog of objects in orbit.. A private-investment and commercial-vs-government stream join later.
Method · GCAT (McDowell) + Space-Track · computed in code; YoY min-max normalized, equal-weight (OECD/JRC)
Share of worldwide monitored news mentioning spaceflight, normalized against the trailing 21-day high. An attention indicator, not ground truth — GDELTGDELT — A global project that monitors world news; used here to gauge how much coverage spaceflight is getting. volume/tone are approximate.
Method · GDELT DOC 2.0 (article volume)