2020
Indian Department of Space Employment, 2011-2020
A large proportion of the workforce — 76% — is made up of technical employees. In 2020, women made up 19.5% of the space workforce and 16.1% of the technical workforce.
JAXA Workforce, 2010-2020
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) employed 1,558 people in 2020, approximately the same number as in 2019. Engineers and researchers account for 70.1% of this total.
European Space Industry Employment, 2010-2020
The European space workforce included 50,388 workers in 2020, an increase of 3.3% from the 48,766 workers in 2019. The largest increases were seen in . . .
Share of U.S. Government Space Spending in Military and Civil Government Domains, 2011-2020
Share of U.S. Government space spending in military and civil government domains, 2011-2020
Share of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Budget by Budgetary Authority, 2020
Almost 44% of all U.S. space spending was allocated to NASA in 2020 — over $22.6 billion.184 This figure is a 5.3% increase over 2019 and a 22.8% increase over the preceding decade. The largest share of this budget, 31.6%, was allocated to the Science Program, which expanded in 2020 to include Biological and Physical Sciences for the first time.
Rate of Change in U.S. Government Space Spending, 2011-2020
Almost 44% of all U.S. space spending was allocated to NASA in 2020 — over $22.6 billion.184 This figure is a 5.3% increase over 2019 and a 22.8% increase over the preceding decade.
Global Military vs. Civil Government Space Spending, 2011-2020
Notably, military space spending in 2020, estimated at US$31.4 billion, constituted the smallest share of global government space spending in a decade – only 35%. This figure marks a reduction from 2019, wherein the $34.6 billion spent globally constituted 38% of government space spending. U.S. military space spending increased by 6.1% in 2020, reaching a new height of $26.6 billion and comprising more than 80% of global military space spending for the first time since 2011.
U.S. Space Industry Core Employment, 2010-2020
The industry has been growing steadily since 2016, with employment increasing 15.4% over the last four years. These preliminary results suggest that the space industry has been relatively resilient to the effects of the global pandemic.
Rate of Change in Non-U.S. Government Space Spending, 2011-2020
Non-U.S. military space was funded at less than half the level it had been in 2019, according to a country-level analysis of six nations spread across four continents: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, and Nigeria. This drop in investment suggests that, for many countries, military space takes a back seat to civil space ambitions and emergency relief for terrestrial disasters such as the coronavirus for many countries.
Space Is Critical Infrastructure; Securing It Is a National Imperative
Edward Swallow and Samuel Visner are founding members of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space ISAC). They are calling on Congress to support a recent proposal to include space assets as crucial to national security and economic well-being.