Space Industry - Segments and Revenues

Segments and Revenues

The three major sectors of the space industry are: satellite manufacturing, support ground equipment manufacturing, and the launch industry. The satellite manufacturing sector is composed of satellite and their subsystems manufacturers. The ground equipment sector is composed of manufacturing items like mobile terminals, gateways, control stations, VSATs, direct broadcast satellite dishes, and other specialized equipment. The launch sector is composed of launch services, vehicle manufacturing and subsystem manufacturing.

With regards to the worldwide satellite industry revenues, in the period 2002 to 2005 those remained at the 35–36 billion USD level. In that, majority of revenue was generated by the ground equipment sector, with the least amount by the launch sector. Space-related services are estimated at about 100 billion USD. The industry and related sectors employ about 120,000 people in the OECD countries, while the space industry of Russia employs around 250,000 people. Capital stocks estimated the worth of 937 satellites in Earth's orbit in 2005 at around 170 to 230 USD billion. In 2005, OECD countries budgeted around USD 45 billion for space-related activities; income from space-derived products and services has been estimated at USD 110–120 billion in 2006 (worldwide). Space industry is heavily dominated by the G7 countries, due to their extensive investment in the aerospace industry.