Evolution of the Space Economy: Government Space to Commercial Space and New Space

From an economic point of view, we can distinguish three successive phases in the development of space business. In the first phase, space activities were government driven and based upon national prestige, and were financed with public money. In a second phase, large space companies, as a reaction against reduced government space funding, responded to a market demand and used their own funds or debt financing to perform commercial space business. Since approximately the year 2000, we note a third phase, whereby entrepreneurs acquire equity funding to develop independently space application projects. This phase is referred to as the New Space economy. The three phases will be covered in this paper, with an outlook to the evolution of the space economy the next decades. The outlook for New Space entrepreneurial business activities, with an emphasis on small satellites and micro-launchers, will be developed further herein.