The U.S. Space Force (USSF) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) are examining and pursuing various ways to leverage commercial space capabilities as part of their policy goal to promote the U.S. space industry and their strategy for improving the national security space architecture. As the commercial space industry continues to grow in capability, capacity, and diversity, opportunities for the USSF and DoD to leverage commercial capabilities are expanding. Specifically, the USSF is considering the role of the commercial space industry in its future space architecture and the innovation ecosystem. It is faced with many choices, such as which commercial capability option to leverage or for which military application it should use commercial instead of organic space capabilities.
In this report, the authors conduct a broad review of seven commercial space sectors—satellite communications, space launch, remote sensing, environmental monitoring, space domain awareness, data transmit/receive networks, and space logistics—and characterize the capabilities and trends in each of them. The information gathered and included in this report is current as of June 15, 2020, and because of rapid changes in the commercial space industry, the authors also recommend sector-specific indicators to track future market developments.
Key Findings
- The commercial space industry is quickly growing and changing.
- More-established commercial space sectors (e.g., satellite communications and space launch) are growing in capacity and capability.
- The growth and evolution of new market entrants have been driven by small satellite technologies and the proliferated constellation model, advanced manufacturing, use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and venture capital investments.
- Among the new commercial space sectors, some will serve other commercial space operators, while other new space sectors will primarily target government customers.
Recommendations
- It is important for DoD and other stakeholders to update their information about the space industry at least annually.
- DoD and other stakeholders should track several technology-development and commercial-viability factors going forward, because these will have significant impacts on the benefits associated with future partnerships.
Table of Contents
- Chapter One
- Introduction
- Chapter Two
- Satellite Communications
- Chapter Three
- Space Launch
- Chapter Four
- Remote Sensing
- Chapter Five
- Environmental Monitoring
- Chapter Six
- Space Domain Awareness
- Chapter Seven
- Data Transmit/Receive Networks
- Chapter Eight
- Space Logistics
- Chapter Nine
- Conclusion
