At a glance
- The space economy covers everything from building rockets to using satellite data on Earth.
- Upstream layers build and launch hardware, while downstream layers turn it into services people use.
- Each layer depends on the others, so a change in one ripples through the rest.
- AI shows up in every layer, from designing engines to reading satellite images.
- This explorer is a learning map, not investment advice.
Interactive tool
Space economy explorer
Choose a layer of the space economy to see what happens there, how AI shows up and the questions long-term investors tend to ask.
Layer 01 · Established
Launch and access to space
Everything in space starts with getting there. This layer covers the rockets, launch sites and services that lift satellites, cargo and crews into orbit and beyond. SpaceX showed that rocket boosters can land and fly again, and reuse like this has helped make access to orbit more affordable and opened the field to new ideas.
What happens here
- Designing and building rockets and engines
- Landing and reusing rocket boosters
- Sharing rides for small satellites
- Preparing payloads safely for launch
- Planning launch windows and flight paths
How AI shows up
AI helps engineers simulate engine designs, check sensor data during tests and guide boosters back to a landing. People still set the rules and make the final call on every launch.
Over the next decade
Over the next decade, more frequent and reusable launches could make reaching orbit feel more like a routine transport service.
Questions a patient, long-term investor might ask
- How often can the vehicle fly again, and what does each reuse depend on?
- Who are the customers, and how steady is their need over many years?
- Which testing milestones have been reached so far?
- How do licences and access to launch sites shape the timeline?
A learning map, not investment advice. The maturity labels describe how developed each layer is in broad terms, not the prospects of any company.
How to use this tool
- Choose a layer card to open its panel, or use the maturity chips to filter the layers.
- Read what happens in that layer and how AI shows up there.
- Use the questions as a thinking checklist, not a verdict.
- Follow the link at the bottom of each panel to learn more.
What the space economy means
The space economy is all the activity that happens in space, or depends on it, to create something useful for people on Earth. It includes the rockets and satellites themselves, and also the services built on top of them, such as weather forecasts, satellite navigation, crop maps and connections for ships at sea.
For most of the space age, this work was led by large public programmes. Since the first artificial satellite in 1957, a widening mix of private companies, universities and partnerships between public bodies and private companies has joined in. The guide to the future of investing in space tells that story in more detail.
Upstream and downstream
People who study the sector often split it in two. Upstream is everything needed to get hardware into space and keep it working: launch, building satellites and spacecraft, and the ground stations that talk to them. Downstream is everything that turns activity in space into services, such as satellite data, connectivity and research results.
The split matters because the two halves look very different. Upstream work tends to involve heavy engineering, long build times and the cost of hardware. Downstream work often looks more like software, with customers who may never think about space at all, only about the answers they receive.
- Mostly upstream: launch and access to space, building satellites and spacecraft, ground stations and connectivity.
- Mostly downstream: space data and Earth observation, research and life sciences in orbit.
- A mix of both: services in orbit, and exploration of the Moon and beyond.
How the layers depend on each other
No layer stands alone. Earth observation needs satellites, satellites need launches, and every satellite needs a ground station to send its data home. When one layer changes, the effects ripple through the rest.
Reusable rockets are a good example. As getting to orbit became more affordable, it became easier to build and test smaller satellites, which in turn created more data and more need for ground networks and services in orbit. You can see how high and how fast those satellites travel with the orbit calculator.
Dependencies also explain why timelines can be long. A data business may rely on launches that are still being planned, and a servicing venture may need rules and standards that are still being written.
Where AI fits across the layers
AI shows up in every card in the explorer. In the upstream layers, it helps engineers simulate designs, spot faults in test data and plan launches. Further out, it helps spacecraft navigate, dock and avoid collisions, and it lets landers and rovers make decisions when signals from Earth take too long to arrive.
In the downstream layers, AI is often the product itself, turning a flood of images into clear answers about crops, forests, water and cities. The page on AI and the space economy looks at this in depth, and the signal delay calculator shows why distance makes on-board AI so useful. In each case, people keep the final judgement.
Nicole Junkermann's perspective
Nicole Junkermann has long argued that patient capital matters for deep technology, and space is one of the clearest examples. Many of the layers in this explorer involve hardware that takes years to design, test and prove, so the people who fund them need long time horizons.
In her view, the most lasting value often sits in infrastructure that people can trust: launch, networks and data that others can build on. She tends to ask how a venture fits into the wider system, which layers it depends on and how AI can help people make better decisions while they keep the final say. Her wider thinking is gathered in her reflections on the future of investing in space.
How to use this explorer responsibly
This explorer is a learning map, not investment advice. It describes how the space sector is organised and the kinds of questions founders and long-term investors tend to ask, but it does not rate companies or suggest what anyone should do with their money.
The maturity labels are broad and simplified. Established layers have long track records, growing layers are adding new services and customers, and emerging layers are still proving their ideas through demonstrations. To see how a single technology matures step by step, try the technology readiness level explorer.
Frequently asked questions
What is the space economy?
The space economy is all the activity that takes place in space, or relies on it, to create something useful for people on Earth. It ranges from building and launching rockets and satellites to using satellite data for weather, farming and maps. It also includes research in orbit and the exploration of the Moon.
What is the difference between upstream and downstream in space?
Upstream covers the hardware and infrastructure needed to reach and work in space, such as rockets, satellites and ground stations. Downstream covers the services that use what happens in space, such as Earth observation data, satellite internet and satellite navigation. Many ventures touch both.
How is AI used in the space economy?
AI helps design and test hardware, schedule ground stations, guide spacecraft and avoid collisions in orbit. It is especially important for reading satellite imagery, where there are far more images than people could ever check by hand. People still set the goals and make the final decisions.
Why do space ventures take so long to develop?
Space hardware has to survive launch, vacuum, radiation and extreme temperatures, and it usually cannot be repaired once it is in orbit. That means long periods of design, testing and demonstration before a product is ready for customers. This is one reason Nicole Junkermann has long argued that deep technology needs patient capital.
Is the Space Economy Explorer investment advice?
No, it is not. The explorer is an educational map of how the space sector is organised and how AI shows up in each part of it. It does not assess any company or suggest what anyone should do with their money.