2026
Global Space Activity by Category, 2005-2021


For this year’s analysis, Space Foundation incorporated historical data and 2022 government spending to project the global space economy’s growth over the next five years. Using our methodology, we predict that the total could reach $639 billion by 2026. Our modeling takes a more conservative approach based on average growth of established sectors and does not factor in developing sectors such as lunar habitation or still exploratory concepts such as asteroid mining.
Projected Global Space Activity by Category, 2026


While LEO remains an integral part of the global space economy, interest in cislunar and deep space exploration is growing. Japan, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) all have plans to launch lunar landers in 2022, while India’s lunar mission will likely launch in 2023. Many space agencies have set their sights on returning humans to the Moon.