Commercial Space Revenues Help Space Economy Grow 55% Over Decade

Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983, released “The Space Report 2021 36th Annual Space Symposium Special Edition,” which explores commercial space revenues, the global space workforce, the market for small launch vehicle developers, sustainability for lunar exploration, the SmallSat economy, the potential of nuclear power and propulsion, and the future of international lunar space policy.

 “The Space Report 2021 36th Annual Space Symposium Special Edition” found that the global space economy, which reached $447B in 2020, was 176% greater than in Space Foundation’s first economic analysis in 2005. Nearly 80% of this total in 2020 was commercial revenues.

This edition also takes a two-pronged look at recent shifts in small launch vehicle and SmallSat development. In addition to comprising 92% of all spacecraft deployed in 2020, an increase from only 27% a decade ago, SmallSats have more than doubled in average size over the same period. As such, small-lift launchers such as Rocket Lab are developing larger rockets, seeking to court the mega-constellation deployments and hundred-plus satellite rideshares of the past few years.

For more information, please visit The Space Report.