The Procure Space ETF (NASDAQ:UFO) opened flat Thursday, continuing to consolidate a big break up from a descending channel, which Benzinga pointed out was likely to happen on Oct. 23. The thematic fund, which invests in companies powering the space sector, has gained over 8% since that date.

While news of the commercial space industry is often dominated by Elon Musk’s and Jeff Bezos’ aspirations to open the cosmos to tourism and interplanetary human habitation, the sector is of vital importance to life on Earth. It is relied upon by governments for national and global security, for researching, monitoring and evaluating natural disasters and for national and international communication.

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With the U.S. entering a federal election year in 2024, issues critical to Americans that are driven by industries reliant on companies involved in the space sector are set to take center stage. Voters will be listening carefully to how each candidate plans to tackle issues that exist in healthcare, agriculture, finance and transportation –all of which are industries reliant, in some part, on companies involved in the space sector, through satellites, GPS, wireless communications, telemedicine and surveillance.

While UFO holds a 4.36% weighting of popular retail stock Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc (NYSE:SPCE), the funds top three holdings are Garmin Ltd (NYSE:GRMN), weighted at 6.33%, Sirius XM Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI), weighted at 5.54% and Globestar, Inc (NYSE:GSAT), with a 5.13% weighting within the ETF.

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The UFO Chart: UFO broke up from a descending channel on Nov. 2 and reversed course into a strong uptrend. The most recent higher high was formed on Wednesday at $16.82 and the most recent higher low was printed at the $16.17 mark on Dec. 1.