The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently published their results on the size of United States space economy from 2012 to 2019. This article provides an overview of their results.
BEA reported that the 2019 space economy was estimated to be $195 billion in US gross output; which grew 1.6% between 2012 and 2019. In 2019 the space economy supported 354,000 private industry jobs.
BEA defines the space economy to consist of space related goods and services both public and private. This includes goods and services that:
- Are used in space or directly support those used in space, e.g. space vehicles, launch pads, space support systems, insurance.
- Require direct input from space to function, or directly support those that do, e.g. satellite telecommunications and broadcasting, GPS and positioning, navigation and timing equipment.
- Are associated with studying space, e.g. research and development, educational services, observatories.
The industry groups contributing to the space economy are:
- Information
- Telecommunications
- Broadcasting
- Software
- Manufacturing, Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade
- Space vehicles
- Space weapons
- Satellites
- Ground equipment
- Search, detection, navigation, and guidance systems
- Government
- Military
- Civilian
- Federally funded research and development centers
- Professional and business services
- Research and development
- Engineering and technical services
- Computer systems design
- Geophysical surveying and mapping services
- Construction
- Space facilities
- Observatories
- Planetariums
- Other services
- Launch services
- Education
- Observatories
- Planetariums
The BEA report and data spreadsheet are available to download below: