The New Space Economy: a strategic opportunity for European leaders

For decades, space belonged to large national agencies and a select few industrialists. Projects, financed by colossal public budgets, were based on long and rigid cycles. But this landscape is changing radically.

Over the past decade, the rise of the New Space Economy (NSE) has profoundly transformed the rules of the game. Expected to surpass $1.1 trillion by 2030, with annual growth of 11.5%, space is no longer just a tool of power for states; it is becoming a vital economic infrastructure, comparable to energy or telecommunications. This change presents an unprecedented field of opportunities for businesses but also requires rapid and profound transformations.

From ‘Old Space’ to ‘New Space’

The historical ‘Old Space’ model was based on a simple logic: public agencies designing missions, and manufacturers responding to their calls for tenders. Funding was almost exclusively public, and projects could span ten to fifteen years, or even more.

Today, four powerful forces are driving the emergence of “New Space”:

1. Technological revolution: Miniaturisation of satellites, artificial intelligence, big data, and 3D printing are massively reducing costs. Launching one kilogram into orbit has fallen from $50,000 (with the space shuttle) to less than $2,000 with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
2. Influx of private capital: Venture capitalists and digital giants are investing heavily. Amazon is developing its Kuiper constellation, while Google and Microsoft are using cloud computing to process space data.
3. Emergence of new markets and space countries: Once dominated by government contracts, the sector now includes a B2B and B2C market, with applications in agriculture, insurance, logistics, connected mobility, and even space tourism. In addition, countries like Australia, South Korea, or the UAE are rapidly expanding their space demand while acquiring core technical competencies at a fast pace.
4. Reusability revolution: Large-scale Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations also mark a key evolution in the space economy. The adoption of circular economy principles—especially reusability—has transformed launch systems. The ability to recover and reuse first-stage boosters represents a major technological and economic shift. SpaceX has pioneered this model, combining reusability with vertical integration across launch, vehicle development, and payload manufacturing.

Expected to surpass $1.1 trillion by 2030, with annual growth of 11.5%, space is no longer just a tool of power for states; it is becoming a vital economic infrastructure, comparable to energy or telecommunications.

Concrete and multiple opportunities

The prospects offered by NSE cover a broad spectrum: Low-orbit satellite constellations are booming: Starlink operates more than 8,000 satellites with 4 million subscribers, while Europe advances with OneWeb, now allied with Eutelsat, and with the IRIS² project.  Earth observation is opening a rapidly growing market, whether in precision agriculture, climate risk management or natural disaster response. Navigation is being strengthened with the expansion of Galileo in low orbit, essential for autonomous vehicles. New professions are emerging: in-orbit servicing – repair, refuelling, and even manufacturing in orbit – could be worth tens of billions of dollars by 2035.

Add to this space tourism and the development of commercial stations, where players such as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and Axiom Space are already at work. And the defence and security dimension is taking on growing strategic importance, fuelled by geopolitical tensions.

Challenges for European companies

Europe’s established space industry faces both an opening and an existential threat. Their model, based on long-term, secure institutional programmes, is being disrupted by a mindset where speed, experimentation and agility take precedence over planning.

Three key challenges stand out:

1. Acceptrisk and failure: As SpaceX shows, spectacular failures can become springboards for learning.
2. Reinvent innovation: Shift from a bespoke engineering approach to more standardised, industrialised and competitive products.
3. Transform organisations: Digitise value chains, adopt agile methods and manage costs through design-to-cost principles.

As one industry leader points out: ‘Our companies must stop being solely institutional suppliers and also become producers of commercial services.’

Europe cannot simply copy SpaceX but must build its own competitive model. This means strengthening innovation through strategic alliances, transitioning from a project-based approach to a product or service-based approach, vertically integrating the value chain, expanding into emerging markets, and closer ties between space and defence to reinforce sovereignty.

The New Space Economy is not a distant frontier: it is already redrawing the balance of power, opening new markets and imposing new rules.

A management tool for transformation: the RINSC

To guide this transition, the Readiness Index for New Space Companies (RINSC) offers a framework to assess how prepared firms are to embrace the NSE. It evaluates four dimensions:

1. Innovation: Investment in R&D, and developing patents and novel products or services, both through internal investment initiatives and partnerships with research centres or emerging startups.
2. Culture: The ability to embed agility, risk tolerance, and new ways of working across teams.
3. Markets: Diversification of products/services portfolio, target segments, geographical areas and customers (B2B/B2C), and attraction of private capital.
4. Efficiency: Streamlined operations, lean manufacturing, and cost & pricing restructuring initiatives.

By assessing each area of a scale of 1 (nascent) to 5 (advanced) according to the Table below, managers can map their organisation’s readiness level, from low (0-40), to average (41–80), to high (81–115). The tool helps leaders identify gaps, set strategic goals, and monitor progress.

The four maximum aggregate scores are therefore: Innovation = 30, Culture = 20, Markets = 35, Efficiency = 30.

The RINSC tool is a versatile instrument supporting managers in making informed decisions within the evolving trajectory of the space industry. The proposed areas can be tailored and aggregate scores weighted based on a firm’s specific identity and strategic goals.

Act now

The New Space Economy is not a distant frontier: it is already redrawing the balance of power, opening new markets and imposing new rules. For European companies, the stakes are high. It is not just a question of seizing an opportunity for growth, but of preserving their competitiveness and economic sovereignty.

Leaders who act decisively, invest in innovation and cooperation, and transform their organisations will place their companies at the heart of a competitive and sustainable European space capitalism. Those who wait too long risk watching the revolution unfold — from Earth.