Size of Industry

$350,000,000,000

What is it?

The Space Economy is defined by OECD as the full range of activities and the use of resources that create value and benefits to human beings in the course of exploring, researching, understanding, managing, and utilising space.[1]

The Space Economy is growing and evolving, together with the development and profound transformation of the space sector and the further integration of space into society and economy. Today, the deployed space infrastructure makes the development of new services possible, which in turn enables new applications, in sectors such as meteorology, energy, telecommunications, insurance, transport, maritime, aviation and urban development leading to additional economic and societal benefits. The space sector is not only a growth sector itself, but is the vital enabler of growth in other sectors.

This dynamics led some analysts to declare that the space industry could become the next trillion-dollar industry by 2040. The main current trends which are impacting the Space Economy include:

A still increasing public interest and investment in space activities worldwide;

An unprecedented level of private investment in space ventures, linked to a higher attractiveness and expected profitability and a growing Venture Capital (VC) market;

An ever increasing number of actors;

Still growing space industry revenues;

The further development of commercial activities worldwide, including ones based on smallsats/cubesats, and the development of commercial activities in new fields, e.g. micro-launchers and space flight;

A traditional space industry, still generating the main share of revenues, but facing more competitive and uncertain markets;

The further development of the New Space worldwide; and

The further integration of space into the society and economy leading to more value creation and more socio-economic benefits.

HOW does it work?

The space economy is expanding and becoming increasingly global, driven by the development of ever-more governmental space programmes around the world, the multiplication of commercial actors in value chains, durable digitalisation trends, and new space systems coming of age. This report describes these emerging trends using new and internationally comparable data and indicators. It highlights the growing importance of space activities for the economy, for developing country strategies (based on original official development assistance statistics), for the pursuit of knowledge and scientific discoveries, and for society in general. To get the most out of space investments and promote sustained socio-economic growth, this report provides some recommendations to countries in building up their statistical evidence on space actors and activities.

Use Case

Improving health care

Experiments performed in space help us understand health problems on Earth.

Protecting our planet and our environment

Satellites provide data on climate change, measure pollution, and help protect our planet.

Creating scientific and technical jobs

The space sector generates high-tech jobs for Canadians.

Improving our day-to-day lives

Space technologies improve products we use every day, weather forecasts, and communications worldwide.

Enhancing safety on Earth

Satellites data can be used to predict natural disasters and to support emergency relief efforts.

Making scientific discoveries

Scientific breakthroughs are challenging our assumptions and pushing our boundaries by exploring the unknown.

Sparking youth's interest in science

Astronauts encourage young people to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Cooperating with countries around the world

Canada is a partner of the International Space Station, a research laboratory in space.

Market

Morgan Stanley’s Space Team estimates that the roughly $350 billion global space industry could surge to over $1 trillion by 2040.