Space Economy Has Surpassed $500 Billion Valuation
Falling launch costs and increased payload volume have accelerated the sector's expansion toward a $1 trillion target.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Space
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The global space economy exceeded $500 billion in 2025 as total payloads grew 34-fold over the last 15 years. A new research report from investment bank Berenberg highlights this growth, which is driven by significant reductions in the cost of reaching orbit.
Why it matters
The sector has transitioned from experimental to essential, with defense and sovereign budgets providing stable demand while commercial markets scale. This shift is fueling a trajectory that analysts expect will push the industry past $1 trillion by 2030.
Launch costs have plummeted from approximately $54,000 per kilogram during the Space Shuttle era to under $1,000 per kilogram today. This efficiency is supported by SpaceX's $15 billion investment in the Starship launch system.
The players
Berenberg
An investment bank that provides financial research and market coverage for the aerospace and defense sectors.
SpaceX
A launch provider and manufacturer that dominates the current orbital mass market through high-frequency reusability.
Rocket Lab
A space systems company specializing in small-to-medium launch services and satellite components.
AST SpaceMobile
A developer of space-based cellular broadband networks intended to provide direct-to-smartphone connectivity.
Planet Labs
An operator of an Earth-observation satellite constellation that provides daily imaging data.
The details
The sector's growth relies on the reusability of launch vehicles, which allows companies to recover and relaunch rocket stages, drastically lowering the financial barrier to entry. While heavy satellites now comprise only 2 percent of total deployments, the massive increase in launch frequency has enabled the scaling of smaller, more distributed satellite networks. The industry is currently sustained by a surge in demand that is outstripping available launch supply from providers other than SpaceX.
Timeline
2010 to 2025: Total payloads deployed to orbit increased 34-fold.
2025: The global space economy reached a valuation exceeding $500 billion.
September 21st-23rd, 2026: Berenberg hosted an investment conference in Munich.
2030: The space economy is projected to reach $1 trillion in value.
The Tech Race
The sector has moved beyond the reliance on heavy, infrequent satellite launches that defined the early 21st century. The current race is defined by which providers can match SpaceX's reusability economics to capture the growing demand for constellation-based services.
Investors can monitor the performance of publicly rated entities like Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile to gauge broader industry health. For the general public, this expansion enables increased connectivity and Earth-observation capabilities that underpin modern communication and climate monitoring.
The takeaway
The space economy is no longer a niche frontier but a $500 billion industry increasingly reliant on cost-efficient, reusable launch technology. Watch the competitive gap between SpaceX and emerging providers in the next quarterly earnings reports to see if non-SpaceX supply can keep pace with projected demand.
Further reading
For more on the changing dynamics of the sector, see our coverage of Space.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Advanced-television.
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