Trying To Understand What the Space Economy Is – And Is Not

Keith’s note: Just in case you missed it, this report by IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute came out in March 2020: “Measuring the Space Economy: Estimating the Value of Economic Activities in and for Space“. Among the authors is Acting NASA Chief of Staff Bhavya Lal.
“The purpose of this report is to provide more targeted estimates of the size of the space economy than are currently employed. It does so by adopting a more restrictive definition of the space economy that only includes the value of goods and services provided to governments, households, and businesses from space or used to support activities in space; it excludes activities that are enabled by space, but are primarily generated terrestrially. We adopt this definition because we believe that an estimate of the size of the space economy focused on activities from or in space would help U.S. Government policy makers develop better policies to foster the growth of commercial activities for or in space, and help clarify for investors and entrepreneurs interested in the space economy the current extent and size of markets focused exclusively on space.”