The space race began as a competition between two superpowers, but there are now 90 nations operating in space.
Another change since man first landed on the moon in 1969 is that lower costs mean it’s not just governments that can afford to put rockets and satellites into the skies. A host of private-sector companies are now investing in space programmes, seeking everything from scientific advances to potentially lucrative business opportunities.
It’s estimated that there are now more than 10,000 firms and around 5,000 investors involved in the space industry.
The space economy is booming
The term “space economy” covers the “goods and services produced in space for use in space, such as mining the moon or asteroids for material”, according to the Harvard Business Review. The OECD defines it as any activity that involves “exploring, researching, understanding, managing, and utilizing space”.
The Space Foundation’s The Space Report 2022 estimates that the space economy was worth $469 billion in 2021 – a 9% increase from a year earlier. And over 1,000 spacecraft were put into orbit in the first six months of this year, the report says – more than were launched in the first 52 years of space exploration (1957-2009).
But the space sector is not only a growth sector in itself – it’s also proving a key enabler of growth and efficiency in other sectors. The European Space Agency says the deployment of new space infrastructure has brought benefits to industries including meteorology, energy, telecommunications, insurance, transport, maritime, aviation and urban development.
Most of this money came from the private sector rather than the public sector, the report says, estimating that more than $224 billion was generated from products and services delivered by space companies.
There has also been an increase in state-backed investment in space projects around the world, according to the Space Foundation report. There was a 19% jump in overall government spending on military and civilian space programmes last year. India raised spending by 36%, China invested 23% more and the US pumped another 18% into space ventures.
