Summary
Space industry refers to economic activities related to manufacturing components that go into outer space (Earth's orbit or beyond), delivering them to those regions, and related services. Owing to the prominence of the satellite-related activities, some sources use the term satellite industry interchangeably with the term space industry. The term space business has also been used. A narrow definition encompasses only hardware providers (primarily related to launch vehicles and satellites). This definition does not exclude certain activities, such as space tourism. Thus more broadly, space industry can be described as the companies involved in the space economy, and providing goods and services related to space. Space economy has been defined as "all public and private actors involved in developing and providing space-enabled products and services. It comprises a long value-added chaining, starting with research and development actors and manufacturers of space hardware and ending with the providers of space-enabled products and services to final users." The three major sectors of the space industry are: satellite manufacturing, support ground equipment manufacturing, and the launch industry. The satellite manufacturing sector is composed of satellite and their subsystems manufacturers. The ground equipment sector is composed of manufacturing items like mobile terminals, gateways, control stations, VSATs, direct broadcast satellite dishes, and other specialized equipment. The launch sector is composed of launch services, vehicle manufacturing and subsystem manufacturing. Every euro spent in the space industry returns around six euros to the economy, according to the European Space Agency. This makes it a critical sector for economic development, competitiveness, and high-tech jobs. With regards to the worldwide satellite industry revenues, in the period 2002 to 2005 those remained at the 35–36 billion USD level. In that, majority of revenue was generated by the ground equipment sector, with the least amount by the launch sector.
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