The Impact of Space Commerce on the U.S. Economy

The impact of space commerce on the U.S. economy, and another all-civilian space flight. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has released new and updated U.S. space economy statistics for 2012–2023. These statistics provide estimates of the U.S. space economy's gross domestic product (GDP) and gross output by industry in current and chained (or “real”) dollars, as well as by-industry estimates of private employment and compensation. The space economy accounted for $142.5 billion, or 0.5 percent, of total U.S. GDP in 2023.

Real GDP grew by 0.6 percent in the space economy, reflecting the second consecutive year of positive real growth. The statistics also show the space economy accounted for $240.9 billion of gross output in 2023 and $57.9 billion of private-sector compensation and supported 373,000 private-sector jobs.

Real GDP growth in the space economy was partly offset by declines in the information sector, down −4.0 percent, and wholesale trade, which was off 5.2 percent.

According to BEA, gross output is principally a measure of sales or revenue from production for most industries, although it is measured as sales or revenue less cost of goods sold for margin industries like retail and wholesale trade. Intermediate inputs are the foreign and domestically-produced goods and services used up by an industry in the process of producing its gross output. Value added is the difference between gross output and intermediate inputs and represents the value of labor and capital used in producing gross output. The sum of value added across all industries is equal to gross domestic product for the economy. Value added is also measured as the sum of an industry’s compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports, less subsidies, and gross operating surplus.

Or put more simply:

* In business: Sales = Cost-of-Goods + Value Add

* In the economy: Gross Output = Intermediate Inputs + GDP

* Sales is to Gross Output as Value Add is to GDP

We're working on getting a representative from BEA to be a guest on The Ex Terra Podcast in the coming weeks, so be sure to stay tuned, or better yet, subscribe.

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NASA has awarded SpaceX a modification under the NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to add Starship to their existing Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch service offerings.

The contracts include an on-ramp provision that provides an opportunity annually for new launch service providers to add their launch service on an NLS II contract and compete for future missions and allows existing contractors to introduce launch services not currently on their NLS II contracts.

Meanwhile, another group of civilian astronauts lifted off on the Fram2 mission aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Fram2 is the first manned mission to be launched into a polar orbit. During their multi-day mission, Dragon and the crew will explore Earth from a polar orbit and fly over Earth’s polar regions for the first time. They will also conduct 22 research experiments designed to help advance humanity’s capabilities for long-duration space exploration, and the understanding of human health in space.

Named in honor of the ship that helped explorers first reach Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic regions, Fram2 is commanded by Chun Wang, an entrepreneur and adventurer from Malta.

The Fram2 Dragon capsule splashed down off the coast of California at about noon eastern time on Friday and the crew exited exit the spacecraft without additional medic