The European Union Agency for the Space Programme described the increasing commercial use of satellite services in its September 30, 2026, space market update. The agency’s 2026 report examines 16 market segments, covering applications used by farms, transport operators, emergency services, and other customers outside the aerospace industry.
The report groups activities by the services they provide. Earth observation supplies measurements of the planet, satellite positioning establishes location and time, and communications satellites carry information. Businesses combine these capabilities with software and equipment on the ground to deliver services that users encounter through phones, vehicles, and workplace systems.
EUSPA forecasts that global Earth observation revenue will increase from €3.5 billion in 2024 to €7.9 billion in 2034. Its satellite navigation forecast exceeds €580 billion by 2034. These are projections for downstream markets, including devices and services, rather than figures for satellite manufacturing alone.
A phone’s location function provides a familiar example. In a September 2026 explanation, EUSPA described how compatible devices combine signals from Galileo, the Global Positioning System, and other constellations. Receivers use those signals to establish a location, which applications combine with maps and other information.
That location can become part of an emergency response. Advanced Mobile Location uses a compatible smartphone’s positioning capabilities, together with other available sources such as Wi-Fi, to help identify the location of a caller to Europe’s 112 emergency number. The information passes to the emergency call center, where responders can use it.
Satellite time operates less visibly. EUSPA’s timing explanation describes how receivers synchronize local clocks using signals derived from satellite atomic clocks. Telecommunications equipment and other distributed systems use a common time reference to coordinate operations across separate locations.
Weather services follow a different route between the spacecraft and the user. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts explains that satellite measurements enter forecast models through data assimilation. This process combines observations with information about the evolving atmosphere to establish the starting conditions for a forecast.
The instruments detect radiation and other physical signals associated with temperature, moisture, clouds, and surface conditions. Meteorological processing converts those measurements into information that forecast models can use. The resulting forecast incorporates satellite observations alongside measurements collected by aircraft, weather stations, and ocean-based instruments.
Communications systems complete another part of the chain. A satellite connection can carry data between a remote location and the wider internet, allowing people at that location to use online services. The orbiting relay, ground gateway, customer terminal, and local network perform separate functions within that connection.
New Space Economy’s earlier coverage of the downstream space economy explains this distinction between operating space infrastructure and supplying an application built on it. The customer may purchase a location service, a forecast, or a communications subscription without directly purchasing satellite capacity.
The 2026 report also adds secure satellite communications and space situational awareness to its market framework. Its secure communications analysis groups 12 use cases around surveillance, crisis management, and infrastructure, extending the report’s treatment of how space services support public operations.
