Artist’s rendition of a satellite – paulfleet/123RF Stock.
We frequently write about the latest satellite launch, novel instruments, or new approaches to remote sensing in our blog, and we talk about how the Earth Observation (EO) industry is a fast moving one. However, have you ever wondered what this means in terms of money?
Many people do. We know a lot of national space agency’s look to try and value their space sector, and the EO part of that. While data providers such as Copernicus and Landsat, often produce various measures of value from users, papers cited, or value given. There are also many reports produced by organisations such as the World Economic Forum who produced a report last year called Amplifying the Global Value of Earth Observation.
Another set of reports are produced by consulting and industry research firms, and there has recently been a whole set of reports issued on the value of EO, which have filled newsfeeds, social media and inboxes. The interesting thing is that all these reports provide different figures for the value of the industry. Looking at some of the recent commercial reports show:
- 17th Earth Observation Data and Services Market report by Novaspace issued in November 2024, valued the current EO market at US$ 5.0 billion and they expect it to growth to a value of US$ 8.0 billion by 2033.
- Global Satellite Data Service Market Size report by Market.us issued January 2025, valued the global satellite data market value at US$11.5 billion in 2024, and they expect the industry to grow to be worth over US$ 62.0 billion by 2034.
- Satellite Earth Observation Market Size report by Straits Research, with its latest update issued in January 2025, valuing the EO market at US$ 9.4189 billion in 2024 and they expect it to grow by a value of US$ 17.2 billion by 2033.
- Satellite-based Earth Observation Market Size Source report by Mordor Intelligence, issued in January 2025, valued the 2025 EO industry to be worth US$ 4.30 Billion, and they expect it to grow to US$ 5.90 Billion by 2030.
- Satellite-Based Earth Observation Market Size 2025 And Growth Rate report by The Business Research Company, and issued in January 2025, who valued the satellite-based EO market at US$ 6.55 billion in 2024, and expects it grow to $9.53 billion in 2029.
Differences in values are not limited to the commercial firms, the World Economic Forum report stated that the global value of EO data was estimated to be worth US$ 266 billion as of 2023 and would growth to over US$ 700 billion by 2030 – obviously significantly higher than the commercial reports.
The reason for the different figures is that there isn’t a single agreed definition of what comprises the EO industry, and the titles of the reports and words they use show this with:
- Earth Observation market
- Earth Observation data
- Satellite data service market
- Satellite EO market
- Satellite based EO market
All of these are potentially subtlety different and mean that they are not counting the same things to calculate value. For example, some things that spring to mind include: does the EO sector include upstream and downstream activities; how far does the value-added sector for EO data extend; how many transformations occur before data is no longer considered EO data and instead one of a myriad of inputs into a model; what part of a launch cost is the EO industry vs the wider space sector;
It might be possible to work this out by reviewing the methodology of all these reports, although, given the commercial reports are often thousands of pounds to buy, we won’t be doing that! The price of these reports does make us wonder whether it is more profitable to write about the industry, rather than work in it! Of course, the reports contain a vast amount of information and breakdowns beyond their headline figures.
Conclusion
However, if you ignore the different calculation methodologies and the different final figures, one thing is clear from all these reports; the EO sector is going to continue to grow significantly over the coming decade and once again showing that we are all working in fast paced and developing sector.
