SpaceX’s Lofty IPO Valuation Hinges on Big Bet on Outsize Growth

To buy into SpaceX’s audacious $1.5 trillion valuation in a listing next year, investors will need to have faith in Elon Musk’s equally galactic vision for his rocket and satellite maker, from orbital data centers to lunar factories to human settlements on Mars.

SpaceX is planning an initial public offering that may be the world’s biggest ever. Its revenue is forecast to be between $22 billion to $24 billion in 2026, largely fueled by its Starlink satellite-internet unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, lifts off at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

At that level, the proposed IPO valuation would clock in at an ...