Space Is Open for Business: The Industry That Can Transform Humanity

by Robert C. Jacobson

Research and Markets released a report titled “Prospects for the Small Satellite Market” in 2019, wherein the global market research firm projected that 7,000 smallsats will launch between 2018 and 2027. Notably, the 2019 report’s forecast for the smallsat market’s growth over the next ten years increased by 13 percent from the last report in 2018, signifying the rapid evolution of the subsector over the course of one year coupled with the “[untapped] potential of several applications and regions of the world.” The report also anticipated a rate of 580 smallsats launched per year by 2022 and an increase to 820 per year by 2027; a main driver of these increased quantities will come from satellite constellations, which Research and Markets expects to account for 82 percent of the predicted 7,000 smallsats.