Manufacturing revenues for Earth observation to grow to $76.1 billion by 2030

With the Earth Observation manufacturing market gearing up for another decade of growth to an estimated $76.1 billion in revenue, the latest study reflects profound changes in the market structure driven by the diversification of payloads and multiplication of commercial constellation projects.

Over 2011-2020, the commercial satellite constellations accounted for 65% of EO satellite launches but captured a negligible 4% of the market value, as opposed to government-funded programs which secured over 80% of satellite value. This discrepancy between volume and value is a salient result of the boom in commercial constellations, turning to Commercial-off-the-shelf components and low CAPEX per satellite business models. This trend is projected to be further ingrained over the next decade, growing from 1,080 launches between 2011 and 2020 to no less than 2,600 by 2030, with as many as 90 constellations accounting for 78% of EO satellites to be built and launched.

On the other hand, government programs remain the principal value creator on the market, generating $11.8 billion in manufacturing revenue in 2021 (excluding ELINT/RF), with civilian programs seeing the 14th consecutive year of growth. With both private and public stakeholders on a growth trajectory in this new structure, manufacturing revenues are expected to follow suit with government R&D and commercial portfolio diversification as the main drivers.