The Future of the Space Industry

The future of the space industry is an exciting one! With plenty of new technological developments we are seeing a major shift in the industry. A new space race, if you like to call it, is on. In 2020 the overall space economy generated a revenue of approximately $450 Billion which was already well above expectations.  Last year Morgan Stanley said we can get to $1 Trillion by 2040; I estimate we can get there by 2030.

One of the biggest reasons for this exponential growth is cost reduction. When the space shuttle program was operating to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) the cost was about $54,500 per kilogram of payload ($1.5 billion per launch @ 27,500 kg). Compare this with SpaceX cost to launch to LEO which is about $2,720 per kilogram ($62 million @ 22,800 kg) *. So simply put, the cost has been greatly reduced. This will make it more attractive to look at sending payloads such as satellites into orbit when it couldn’t be done previously because it was too expensive.  Other space companies are rapidly coming up on the market, each with a unique advantage. This is a great sign of a growing industry. As more competition arises, cost effectiveness increases, and more privatization of the industry grows around the globe.

Space is an interesting industry to consider from an investment perspective. Stay tuned for future articles discussing the risks and rewards of investing in space, the different sectors of space, and the environmental impact and benefits of space.

*https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/handle/2346/74082