Title page 1

Contents 7

Foreword 4

Acknowledgements 5

Editorial 6

Reader's guide 10

Acronyms and abbreviations 13

Executive summary 15

1. Strategic capabilities and competitiveness in the space economy 17

The case for space: strategic capabilities, economic benefits and the need for strong policy engagement 18

Public space investment has expanded, but funding intensity varies widely across countries 21

Civil space R&D remains significant, but growth has slowed 25

Space-related official development assistance spreads the benefits of government investment more widely 28

Private finance and firm-level R&D are reshaping investment conditions 29

Governments are using a wider set of policy tools to support space entrepreneurship and commercialisation 32

Legal and regulatory frameworks are becoming more supportive of commercial space activities 35

Conclusion 36

References 37

Notes 39

2. Shifting market dynamics in the space economy: Concentration, diversification and value creation 40

A transformation of orbital occupancy and ownership in the last ten years 41

Participation in space activities has broadened, but launch capability remains concentrated 42

Private operators now dominate activity in orbit 44

Telecommunications and LEO constellations are reshaping orbital demand 45

Commercial earth observation services have grown in scale and sophistication 49

GNSS-enabled digital services are growing fast 52

Profitability remains uneven across space economy segments 52

Conclusion 54

References 55

Notes 57

3. Innovation capabilities and emerging technologies in the space economy 58

Space-related scientific publication activities are growing 59

Scientific production is becoming more multipolar, with emerging economies accounting for much of recent growth 60

The OECD area continues to lead in scientific excellence 61

International collaboration in space research is expanding and deepening 63

Scientific publications point to emerging space innovation fields 66

Space-related patenting points to new technological development 68

AI-enabled data processing is becoming a key space innovation frontier 72

Emerging technologies shaping future space exploration 74

Nuclear power in space could enable future exploration missions 75

Conclusion 76

References 77

Notes 78

4. Managing vulnerabilities, dependencies and sustainability risks of the space economy 79

Growing dependence on space systems creates new vulnerabilities 80

Orbital congestion is intensifying in attractive low-earth orbits 80

The space debris population is becoming self-generating 82

Market concentration can create strategic dependencies 83

Space manufacturing is increasingly exposed to critical supply-chain risks 83

Space infrastructure, signals and data are increasingly subject to malicious attacks 86

Conclusion and policy implications 87

References 88

Notes 89

5. The Space Economy at a Glance: Country Profiles 90

Canada 91

France 97

Germany 102

Italy 107

Korea 112

The Netherlands 117

Norway 121

Switzerland 126

United Kingdom 131

United States 136

Table 2.1. Examples of GNSS-enabled applications 52

Table 3.1. Critical technologies needed for space exploration 74

Table 4.1. The number of space launch providers is growing 83

Figure 1.1. Growing use of satellite-based services in the Danish economy 20

Figure 1.2. Selected OECD civilian space budgets, 2010 and 2025 22

Figure 1.3. Selected trends in civilian space budgets, 2010-2025 23

Figure 1.4. Size and growth of selected OECD military space budgets, 2015-2025 24

Figure 1.5. Civil space as a percentage of total civil Government Budget Allocations for R&D, 2010 and 2024 26

Figure 1.6. Civilian space's share of total government R&D budget allocations is decreasing, 2000-2024 27

Figure 1.7. Growth in civil space R&D has not kept up with growth in other elements of GBARD 27

Figure 1.8. Environmental protection and disaster risk reduction are key areas of space-related official development assistance 29

Figure 1.9. Access to private capital is improving, 2016-25 30

Figure 1.10. R&D investment in Canadian space-related business firms, 2017-2024 31

Figure 1.11. Firm fixed price is now NASA's most common procurement instrument, 1996-2024 33

Figure 1.12. Governments are broadening policy instruments to support private sector innovation in the space sector, 2010-2025 34

Figure 1.13. Increasing number of countries with space regulations, 1958-2025 35

Figure 2.1. The scale of launch activity is increasing, in object numbers and mass 41

Figure 2.2. Over half of the countries in the world have successfully launched at least one satellite 42

Figure 2.3. The United States accounts for a growing share of orbital launches and active satellites 43

Figure 2.4. Private sector increasingly dominant in orbit 45

Figure 2.5. Telecommunications accounted for more than 80% of satellites launched in 2025 46

Figure 2.6. Announced future mega constellations comprise more than 2 million satellites over the next decade 46

Figure 2.7. Satellite filings shift from geostationary to non-geostationary systems, as low-earth orbit constellations expand 47

Figure 2.8. Satellite takes a small but growing share of OECD fixed broadband subscriptions 48

Figure 2.9. Rapid growth in the launch of advanced sensors 49

Figure 2.10. Accessibility of earth observation data from CEOS missions 51

Figure 2.11. High capital and R&D expenses for emerging space manufacturers 53

Figure 3.1. Scientific production in space-related fields is outpacing broader related research areas, 2010-24 59

Figure 3.2. Scientific production in space-related fields has become more geographically diversified, 2009-2024 60

Figure 3.3. OECD countries remain at the forefront of high-impact space research 62

Figure 3.4. High citation rates often coincide with high shares of international co-authorship 63

Figure 3.5. Countries engaged in space research worked, on average, with three times as many international partners in 2024 as in 1996 64

Figure 3.6. International co-authorship in space publications varies by economy 65

Figure 3.7. Trending topics in space publications highlight the growing role of digital technologies in satellite imagery 67

Figure 3.8. Space-related patenting has increased steadily since 2000 68

Figure 3.9. Evolution of space-related patents by field, driven mainly by advances in spacecraft electrical power and space system control technologies 69

Figure 3.10. Space-related invention remains led by economies with mature space programmes 69

Figure 3.11. Space innovation remains concentrated in leading regions, 2010-13 and 2020-23 70

Figure 3.12. Space-related patents indicate specialised innovation strengths across major economies, 2020-23 71

Figure 3.13. Prithvi earth observation foundation model performs nearly perfectly on certain disaster response applications 73

Figure 3.14. Vision-language models display varying strengths across geospatial tasks 73

Figure 3.15. Nuclear power systems launched into space 75

Figure 3.16. Types of nuclear power sources used in space, 1961-2025 76

Figure 4.1. Satellites are concentrated in a small number of orbits 81

Figure 4.2. Long-term simulations point to self-generating space debris dynamics 82

Figure 4.3. European space systems' needs of strategic and critical materials 84

Figure 4.4. Leading producers of critical and strategic materials for space systems in 2025 85

Figure 4.5. European air traffic faces growing threat of jammed and spoofed GNSS signals 87

Boxes 9

Box 1.1. Science and space exploration as sources of institutional demand 22

Box 3.1. Measuring space-related scientific output through bibliometric indicators 66