The Space Economy in 2026: Size, Growth, Investment and Forecasts

The space economy is now roughly the size of the global semiconductor industry. It covers far more than rockets: most of its value comes from satellite navigation, communications and data that people use every day without thinking about space at all.

This guide sets out how big the space economy is, where the money comes from, who is spending and investing, the main forecasts to 2035 and the risks behind them. Every figure is from a named, dated source.

What is the space economy?

The space economy is the full range of activities and use of resources that create value and benefits for people in the course of exploring, understanding, managing and utilising space. That is the OECD's definition, which is also the one most governments use. It has three layers:

• Upstream: building and launching space infrastructure, such as rockets, satellites and ground stations.
• In orbit: operating satellites and spacecraft, and services such as servicing, refuelling and transport between orbits.
• Downstream: products and services that rely on space, such as satellite navigation in phones and cars, satellite broadband and TV, weather forecasts and Earth-observation data.

The downstream layer is by far the largest. Space-based systems support more than half of the most critical infrastructure and services across OECD countries, including transport, energy, communications and food supply.

How big is the space economy?

The global space economy was worth $686 billion in 2025, according to the Space Foundation, up 12% from 2024. Commercial activity generated $544.3 billion of that, or 79%, and governments spent about $141 billion.

For scale, the Space Foundation first measured the space economy at about $150 billion in 2005, so it has grown more than fourfold in two decades.

Why estimates of the space economy differ

Estimates of the space economy differ mainly because each organisation draws the boundary in a different place, particularly around how much downstream activity to include:

Where the money comes from

Most space economy revenue comes from services and equipment on the ground, not from hardware in orbit. Satellite navigation alone accounts for about half of commercial revenue:

Figures are from the Space Foundation's 2026 report, which draws on EUSPA for navigation and Earth observation and on Eurospace for spacecraft and launch values. Positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) covers GPS-style services used by phones, vehicles, aircraft, farms and financial networks.

Government space spending

Governments spent about $141 billion on space in 2025, up 7.4%, across 53 national budgets, according to the Space Foundation. Novaspace, using its own method, puts the figure at $137.4 billion and finds that defence now makes up 54% of it.

Growth is fastest outside the US: Canada more than doubled its space budget in 2025, and France, the UK and South Korea each raised theirs by more than 40%. The OECD notes that 109 countries had put at least one satellite into orbit by 2025, but launch remains concentrated, with 181 US launch attempts in 2025, 92 from China and 8 from Europe.

Private investment in space companies

Private investment in space companies reached a record in 2026. Space Capital counted $92.5 billion invested in the first three quarters, already more than any previous full year, including $22.2 billion across 132 companies in the third quarter alone. Our guide to private space companies ranks the largest by valuation, and our guide to space venture capital explains who invests and how rounds work.

• Launch: launch companies raised a record $7.8 billion in 2026, as demand for rides to orbit outstripped supply.
• Europe: $13.5 billion invested in the first nine months of 2026, more than in any previous full year.
• Unicorns: a record 44 space companies reached valuations of $1 billion or more in 2026, nearly double 2025.
• Defence: governments with urgent requirements have become anchor customers for much of the new investment.

Why investment figures vary

The OECD estimated private capital flows into space at $11 billion to $13 billion in 2025, the highest since 2021. Space Capital's far larger totals use a broader definition that includes companies building on space infrastructure, such as defence technology and geospatial intelligence firms, and late-stage rounds. Both show the same direction: more money, concentrated in mature companies and capital-intensive activities such as manufacturing and launch.

What is the new space economy?

The new space economy, often called NewSpace, is the shift from space activity led by government agencies to one where private companies design, own and operate space systems and sell services to governments and businesses.

The OECD reports that private operators launched 88% of satellites in 2025, up from 23% in 2010, and that one operator, SpaceX, accounted for about 60% of all active satellites. Our guide to satellite internet constellations covers the networks behind that shift.

Space economy forecasts to 2035

The best-known forecast, from McKinsey and the World Economic Forum, is that the space economy will reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, measured in 2023 dollars and including revenue that space enables in other industries.

What would it take to reach $1.8 trillion?

Starting from the Space Foundation's $686 billion in 2025, reaching $1.8 trillion by 2035 would need the space economy to grow by a factor of about 2.6 in ten years. That works out at roughly 10% a year (1.10¹⁰ ≈ 2.6), almost exactly the pace of the last five years. In other words, the forecast assumes the recent boom continues for another decade rather than accelerating. The two measures are not strictly comparable, since McKinsey counts more downstream revenue and adjusts for inflation, but the comparison shows the scale of growth being assumed.

The fastest-growing segments

• Satellite manufacturing: commercial revenue up 67.2% in 2025, driven by large low Earth orbit constellations.
• Launch: commercial launch revenue up 49.4% in 2025, with demand now exceeding supply.
• In-space servicing and logistics: revenue of $304 million in 2025, up from $213 million, covering life extension, inspection, refuelling, assembly and transport between orbits.
• The lunar economy: about $364 million of commercial lunar revenue in 2025, still mostly from government contracts, with missions across cislunar space planned this decade.
• New destinations: commercial space stations and data centres in space, which will need regular transport, supply and servicing.
• Direct-to-device connectivity: satellites that connect directly to ordinary smartphones, one of the fastest-growing parts of satellite communications.

In-space logistics is small today, but it is the layer that connects every other segment once hardware is in orbit. The Space Foundation describes it as broadening from servicing individual satellites towards a full in-space logistics and infrastructure market. Our guide to the space logistics market covers its size and prices, and space logistics companies profiles who is building it. Orbit2Orbit's in-space logistics network is designed for this market, with reusable spacecraft that dock, deliver and redeploy between satellites, stations and orbital platforms.

Risks and constraints

The space economy's growth depends on several factors that could slow it:

• Concentration: one operator accounts for about 60% of active satellites, and a few launch providers carry most payloads.
• Launch scarcity: SpaceX stopped taking rideshare reservations beyond late 2028, leaving other companies competing for limited launch capacity.
• Profitability: the OECD notes that some emerging manufacturers still spend more than 60% of revenue on research, development and capital expenditure.
• Government budgets: defence and civil programmes depend on annual budget decisions that can be delayed or cut.
• Orbital debris: the OECD estimates that almost $200 billion of economic activity is exposed to space debris risk, as the number of satellites in orbit climbs.

These figures describe the industry as a whole and are not a guide to the prospects of any individual company. For information about Orbit2Orbit itself, visit the Orbit2Orbit homepage.

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