Introduction
The space economy is undergoing a profound transformation. What was once primarily a state-led, engineering-centered, and security-oriented domain has become a global ecosystem shaped by commercial actors, public-private partnerships, start-ups, downstream data services, venture capital, sustainability pressures, and new forms of international coordination. Recent estimates show that the global space economy reached hundreds of billions of dollars in annual value and is expected to continue expanding significantly over the next decade. This growth creates an urgent need to understand the space sector not only as a technological frontier, but also as a management, governance, innovation, and sustainability challenge.
This book proposes an interdisciplinary analysis of the space economy through the lenses of strategic management, innovation management, organizational studies, public policy, sustainability, entrepreneurship, human resource management, and ecosystem governance. It will examine how value is created, coordinated, governed, financed, commercialized, and made sustainable across upstream, midstream, and downstream space activities. The volume will also explore the transition from 'Old Space' to 'New Space', the emergence of new business models, the role of universities and research centers, the management of talent in highly specialized organizations, and the institutional coordination required to address orbital sustainability, regulation, ethical issues, and long-term social impact.
The book fills an editorial and scientific gap by positioning the space economy as a legitimate field of inquiry for management and organization scholars. Existing literature often focuses on engineering, space law, geopolitics, or macroeconomic measurement.
This book instead foregrounds strategic decision-making, organizational capabilities, leadership, collaboration, human capital, sustainable innovation, and comparative governance. It will also offer comparative insights from other strategic and commons-based economies, such as the blue economy, to show how sectors traditionally dominated by technical expertise require robust economic, managerial, and institutional frameworks.
The space economy encompasses the activities, resources, infrastructures, applications, and knowledge systems associated with the exploration, use, management, and commercialization of space. Its relevance now extends far beyond launch vehicles and satellites. Space-based services support telecommunications, climate monitoring, navigation, disaster response, agriculture, defense, logistics, urban planning, financial services, and scientific decision-making. As a result, the space economy increasingly functions as a strategic infrastructure layer for modern societies.
This expansion has changed the nature of the field. The space sector is no longer organized exclusively around public missions, national agencies, and large aerospace contractors. It now includes start-ups, venture-backed firms, university spin-offs, downstream application providers, data analytics companies, sustainability innovators, and cross-sector partnerships. These developments make management questions central: How should organizations build capabilities for highly uncertain and capital-intensive markets? How can governments design mission-oriented policies without crowding out private initiative? How do firms create value from space data and infrastructure? How can talent be attracted and retained in knowledge-intensive space organizations? How can space activities remain economically viable while preserving the orbital environment as a shared resource?
The proposed book responds to these questions by treating the space economy as a complex socio-technical and organizational ecosystem. It connects business models, strategy, innovation, public policy, sustainability, human resources, leadership, and interorganizational collaboration. This perspective is especially important because the future of the space economy will depend not only on technical breakthroughs, but also on the quality of governance, institutions, organizational design, managerial capabilities, ethical principles, and global cooperation.