Hidden Starship Trade: The Industrial Gas Giant Fueling SpaceX’s Rockets
Ahead of the SpaceX IPO, Rothschild & Co Redburn analyst Tony Jones published a note on space propellant economics and identified an industrial-gases giant that is well positioned to dominate the market for rocket propellants and mission-critical launch gases as SpaceX’s Starship launch cadence gains momentum and the broader space economy is set to double by 2035. Jones and his team reiterated their “Buy” rating on Linde and raised their 12-month price target to $560 from $550, telling clients on Wednesday that the company has built a deep moat in the industrial gases business after powering America’s rocket launches for the past six decades. The team at the equity research arm of Rothschild & Co Redburn sees SpaceX’s Starship as a “further demand accelerator,” with higher launch cadence and heavier propellant loads creating a new growth lever for Linde’s mission-critical gases business. Jones estimates Linde generated just under $4 million of revenue per average space launch in 2025. By 2028, that number could approach $6 million as Starship launches are set to increase dramatically, driving …









