The Space Economy

The private launch industry that has driven the cost of reaching orbit down by an order of magnitude — through reusable rockets and competition — and opened space to companies, universities, and nations that could never before afford it.

The specialised insurance market that underwrites the risk of launching and operating satellites — covering the moments when a rocket can fail and the years a satellite must survive the hazards of space. It is a small but essential enabler of commercial space.

The largest part of the space economy — the industry built on satellites for communications, navigation, and Earth observation, whose services underpin the modern economy on the ground, from banking timestamps to weather forecasts to global positioning.

The whole economic system of space activity — launch, satellites, ground systems, services, and the emerging markets in resources and on-orbit servicing — and the far larger value it creates on Earth. Increasingly it is driven by private capital as much as by governments.