Disruption, speed and growth

The funda­mental transformation of the space industry began a few years ago in the USA under the banner of New Space and continues to accele­rate. It is charac­terised by small satellites, mega-constel­lations as well as by new small and large launch systems and a multitude of private investors. The number of relevant companies is becoming increa­singly con­fusingly complex, new players capture market share and revo­lutionise large parts of the industry at breath-taking speed. Mega-constel­lations are gradually becoming reality and, with their low-cost small and micro satellites, dominate the LEO orbit in terms of unit numbers, but only have a small share of the overall market. Their business models and approaches vary in several aspects: low-cost series production with COTS components, degree of vertical inte­gration as well as net­work, scale and lock-in effects. In the meantime, tradi­tional satellite manu­facturers have responded to the chal­lenges of the New Space and offer an innovative (GEO-) product portfolio, for instance with digital, flexible payloads and high data rates. Thus, they have been able to maintain their larger market share.

Governments, public autho­rities, and space agencies remain the dominant customer group in the space industry in terms of market size. Military customers focus on military satel­lite communi­cations, SSA program­mes, and Earth obser­vation. Modern societies rely on space applica­tions for communi­cations, navi­gation, and Earth obser­vation. Therefore, the security and resilience of space infra­structure plays an increa­sing role as space becomes a rising military opera­tional domain.

We help our commercial and military clients to stay on top of the game and support them in shaping techno­logical change as well as in alig­ning their proces­ses and organi­sation to achieve their strategic goals.