The European Space Agency (ESA) has released its annual report on the Space Economy, 2024 edition.
ESA describes the report as follows: “As published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 20121, the space economy is 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. The definition, applied by the European Space Agency, and developed through the work of the OECD Space Forum2, includes the value of the space sector itself, comprising of space upstream and downstream companies, as well as the value of impacts that space activities have on the economy, environment and society.”
“The scope of the present “Report on the Space Economy” is on the space sector’s economic value. It provides an annual update on the status and trends of the space industry, globally and for Europe specifically. The document is structured in two main chapters.”
“Chapter 2 presents key trends and figures for 2023, covering public and private investment in space, space activity, space industry’s revenues both upstream and downstream and the space sector’s workforce.”
“Chapter 3 highlights selected trends at the macro-economic level in 2024, providing context to the environment in which the space industry is evolving. It also presents preliminary insights on the space sector in 2024, covering anticipated public investment, trends in private investment, space activity and satellite manufacturing orders, based on data available as of 30 September 2024.”
Some top line figures:
Public Investment in Space
- World – €106 billion (+11%)
- Europe – €11.9 billion (+1%)
Private Investment in Space
- World – €6 billion (-32%)
- Europe – €977 million (-14%)
Space Upstream Market Value
- World – €53 billion (-19%)
Space Downstream Market Value
- World – €358 billion (+4%)
- Europe – €82 billion (+4%)