Space is no longer a distant frontier; it’s woven into the fabric of our daily lives, from the morning weather report on your smartphone to the delivery of your evening meal. “While mega rocket launches and record spaceflights are the headlines that capture the public’s imagination, routine rocket launches and satellite data services are, in fact, the product of decades of behind-the-scenes innovation,” write McKinsey senior partner Ryan Brukardt and Jeremy Jurgens, managing director, World Economic Forum. “And they are delivering greater benefits to a more diverse set of stakeholders than ever before—including in industries as varied as food and beverage; retail, consumer goods and lifestyle; supply chain and transportation; and even climate disaster mitigation.” Explore these insights to understand how businesses across sectors can leverage space-based solutions to enhance operations, create new markets, and tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
As the space economy expands, it could create value for multiple industries and solve many of the world’s most pressing challenges.
The space industry is approaching the next frontier, with each week bringing news of a major development somewhere in the world. Be it a test of a new rocket system, the launch of an innovative satellite, or a robotic exploration mission safely landing on the moon, activity in space is accelerating.
We estimate that the global space economy will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035 (accounting for inflation), up from $630 billion in 2023. This figure includes both “backbone” applications—such as those for satellites, launchers, and services like broadcast television or GPS—and what we term “reach” applications”—those for which space technology helps companies across industries generate revenues. Uber, for example, relies on the combination of satellite signals and chips inside smartphones to connect drivers and riders and provide directions in every city.
In 2023, backbone applications made up $330 billion, or slightly greater than 50 percent, of the global space economy, while reach applications represented $300 billion. The expected annual growth rate for backbone and reach applications is twice the projected rate of GDP growth over the next decade (exhibit). For comparison, the value estimates for space are similar to those for semiconductors (estimated at $600 billion in 2021 with 6 to 8 percent annual growth into the 2030s) and roughly half of the projection for the global payments industry (estimated to reach $3.2 trillion in revenues by 2027)