Eurospace publishes the 2024 update of its facts & figures statistical series [Jul/2024]
Eurospace, established
in 1961, is the trade association of the European space industry. The annually
published Eurospace facts & figures statistical series focuses on
assessing the economic value of industrial activities associated with the
design, development, and manufacturing of space systems (also called the upstream
segment) in Europe.
The 2024
edition reports statistics on the global context, including macro
trends in space infrastructure markets and trends in institutional and
commercial programmes. Furthermore, it outlines consolidated European
space budgets and the main results of the facts & figures annual
survey.
In terms of the global
context, 1,500 tons of spacecraft mass were launched in 2023, up from 1,000
tons in 2022, with 95% of the growth driven by Starlink. The global spacecraft
and launch markets are dominated by the US and China with a joint market share
of 70% in both markets.
Key trends in institutional
programmes show recent growth in institutional spacecraft mass launched
since 2020, supported by human spaceflight programmes (the Chinese Space
Station and Artemis) and remote sensing missions. In 2023, 70% of institutional
spacecraft mass launched was for civil programmes, while 30% was for military
programmes. However, while the former has experienced a decreasing trend
since 2020, the latter has shown growth due significant catch up in military
satellites by China.
Commercial
programmes continue to experience growth in spacecraft mass launched. However,
this increase is solely driven by Starlink.
Regarding
funding aspects, the European upstream budget totalled almost €11 billion
in 2023, which includes national budgets of about €9 billion and the EU space
budget of €2 billion. Of the total, almost two-thirds were managed by ESA.
The main results
of the facts & figures survey reveal that the European space
industry has experienced limited annual sales growth of €200 million, reaching
a total of €8.4 billion in 2023. While the industry has partially recovered
from the Covid-19 sales drop, some market segments are still affected by a
structural slowdown. In contrast to the sluggish sales increase, employment in
the industry has considerably increased in recent years, reaching more than 62,500
full-time employees in 2023. This growth is primarily driven by New Space
start-ups that have recently entered the industry.
For more
information and results of the survey, the press release of the 2024
facts & figures update can be accesses here
(please log into the ESA Space Economy website before).
More information about Eurospace and its annual survey can be found here.