Research Overview

Commercial space companies have developed launch capabilities and deployed constellations of hundreds, if not thousands, of satellites that rival any country's national space agency, all in the last decade. These developments have caused commercial activity in the space industry to boom. Despite this uptick in activity, most of the policies and international agreements that govern them were put in place long before the commercial space sector exploded. Countries now recognize the need to update their agreements.

The space business will become substantially more fragmented as a result of several new NewSpace participants entering the market. Where international rules are inadequate to accommodate new market developments, space sector participants are creating innovative business models and capabilities, such as in-orbit servicing, space situational awareness, and space trash cleanup technologies. Market competition has already commenced, and the competitive landscape is on course to accelerate during the next 2 years.

This study provides an overview and analysis of the space policies of some major space-faring countries, with a focus on high-level policy developments and general trends in the existing space regulation framework and how they affect the NewSpace business. The study period is 2021–2027 with a base year of 2021. This global analysis covers the following regions: United States, European Union, France, Germany, India, Japan, and United Arab Emirates.