While the US and China are the biggest investors in the sector, many new governmental players are joining the market, says the Paris-based consultancy in its latest report, Prospects for Space Exploration, 3rd edition.
Among its other findings are that Lunar missions will see a 4.6x increase in government backing compared to the last 10 years. The private sector will also be more involved too, with 20x more commercial lunar missions in the next decade than the previous one.
The report breaks down the sector into areas such as transportation investments, orbital infrastructure and astronomy and astrophysics, also distinguishing between Moon- and Mars-based missions.
“Our forecasts,” said Miguel Ouellette, Euroconsult’s Principal Advisor, “indicate that lunar and cis-lunar activities will provide a major focal point to catalyze investment in the space exploration market over the coming years. In fact, moon exploration will act as a ‘steppingstone’ towards future Mars endeavors, and government investments in this application are projected to drastically increase by over 4.6x in the next decade when compared to the previous one.”
“Private companies are expected to play an increasingly important role in these developments, with as many as 60 commercial lunar missions to launch within the next decade. However, the role of governments will still remain crucial in order to support the industry, especially as a customer of commercial solutions, as well as in terms of sharing costs, risks, and responsibilities for space exploration endeavors.”
A free extract of the report also available for download, if you provide some details.
See also: Euroconsult forecasts Ground Segment market in billions of dollars
