2015

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.

Average Payloads Deployed per Successful Orbital Launch (2011-2020)

Why might we be seeing this shift towards small vehicles? Average payload deployment per successful launch, a reflection of growing ridesharing among spacecraft operators, reached a height of nearly 11 payloads per launch in 2020. This figure is 2.5 times higher than the previous year and 7 times higher than a decade ago.