In 1890, five years after Karl Benz built the first internal combustion automobile, most people still traveled by horse. Roads were muddy, fueling options were nearly nonexistent, and infrastructure didn’t yet exist to support what would soon become one of the most important transformations of daily life.

In 1910, just seven years after the Wright brothers’ first powered flight, air travel was still viewed as a novelty. There were no real airports, no flight regulations, and no formal aviation industry. Few could imagine that commercial airliners would one day become essential to global business, leisure, and logistics. Now, in 2025, the space economy stands in a similar moment, early, uncertain, but brimming with parallels. We are not guessing in the dark. We have an actual roadmap for the future of space.

Space today extends far beyond rockets and billionaire ventures, functioning as a largely invisible component of our economic infrastructure. GPS navigation, satellite communications, earth monitoring, and weather forecasting all depend on space-based systems. According to NASA's economic impact analysis, the agency's operations generated $75.6 billion in economic output during fiscal year 2023, nearly triple its $25.4 billion annual budget. This comprehensive 400-page assessment examined how various NASA initiatives, including lunar and Mars exploration programs, climate science research, and technological innovation, create widespread economic benefits for commercial space and the broader space economy.

The agency's lunar and Mars exploration efforts alone produced $23.8 billion in economic activity while supporting 96,479 jobs nationwide. Similarly, NASA's climate research and technology investments contributed $7.9 billion to the economy and sustained 32,900 positions across various sectors. This data illustrates how space activities function as significant economic multipliers, with every dollar invested generating substantial returns through job creation, technological advancement, and industrial development throughout the American economy—clear markers of space technology investment that compound value across space infrastructure and commercial space.

Yet, most people still struggle to picture how space will shape everyday life. That’s why history matters. Looking at how automobiles and planes evolved from niche curiosities to necessities gives us a framework to understand space’s trajectory across the space economy.

The Automobile Template: From Scarcity to Ubiquity

In the 1890s, automobiles were noisy, unreliable, and impractical. Roads weren’t paved, fuel wasn’t readily available, and regulations didn’t exist. It wasn’t until the development of gas stations, highway networks, safety rules, and manufacturing breakthroughs that the industry took off.
Over the next century, automobiles:

• Created entirely new industries (fuel, tires, insurance)
  
  
• Changed where people lived (rise of suburbs)
  
  
• Transformed logistics and commerce
  
  
• Sparked new forms of leisure (road trips, tourism)
  
  
• Required massive capital deployment for infrastructure buildup like roads and bridges, etc.
  
  

Today, reusable rockets are the “Model T” of space. SpaceX has made launches cheaper. But now comes the hard part, building the space infrastructure equivalent to roads, fueling stations, and stoplights, only in orbit—an essential step for durable commercial space services and ongoing space technology investment.

The Aviation Template: Scaling the Impossible

In 1910, aviation had no roadmap. Commercial airlines didn’t exist. Regulation was an afterthought. And yet, by 1970, we had the Boeing 747, flying 300+ people across continents and oceans.

Aviation unlocked:

• Globalized business and workforce mobility
  
  
• Just-in-time cargo delivery
  
  
• Massive tourism economies
  
  
• Rapid aid during disasters and conflicts
  
  
• Projection of military might

It also needed:

• Air traffic control systems
  
  
• Airport infrastructure
  
  
• International aviation law (think ICAO)
  
  
• Multilateral diplomacy
  
  
• Environmental considerations

Space is now following the same curve. Reusable rockets are the equivalent of Wright’s first flight. What comes next is the space infrastructure and governance to make it scalable, safe, and profitable—exactly what a maturing space economy requires to expand commercial space at scale.

The Investment Landscape: Capital Is Already Flowing

This isn’t just theory. Real money is already moving.

According to Space Capital, space technology investment reached $12.5 billion into space startups in 2023, a 30% increase from 2022. Since 2015, over $298 billion has flowed into more than 1,800 space companies, with investment strategies evolving well beyond rockets. Rather than speculative moonshots, private equity in space tech is making infrastructure-grade bets across launch, Earth observation, and orbital services—allocating capital to enduring space infrastructure that underpins commercial space markets.

Take Firefly Aerospace, which successfully developed the Blue Ghost lunar lander under NASA’s CLPS program, a prime example of commercial delivery to the Moon. India’s Pixxel, a hyperspectral imaging startup, is attracting global capital as it heads into Series C, positioning itself as a critical player in next-gen environmental monitoring. Axiom Space, building commercial space stations and suits, recently secured $350 million from global investors including Aljazira Capital.

Meanwhile, Veritas Capital’s acquisition of CAES Space Systems (now Frontgrade) signals deepening crossover between defense-grade electronics and satellite hardware. Even national strategies are backing space at scale, China is establishing an orbital supercomputer with 12 satellites using the latest laser communications, Saudi Arabia has committed $2 billion by 2030, and Japan’s Toyota is investing in lunar mobility platforms.

These aren’t side bets. They’re long-duration plays on a future space economy with real customers, real revenue, and a permanent footprint beyond Earth orbit—driven by space technology investment and sustained by private equity in space tech partnering with sovereign and strategic capital.

Beyond the Billionaires: A New Corporate Order

The modern space economy isn’t led by NASA or Roscosmos. Since 2015, commercial space has taken the wheel, with public agencies acting more like strategic buyers or tenants.

Rocket Lab, with more than 40 launches and multiple acquisitions, now offers end-to-end launch and satellite services. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines are leading NASA’s CLPS missions to the lunar surface, with NASA riding as a customer. Axiom Space is building the first commercial space station and EVA suits. Paragon Space 

Development builds life support systems and advanced water recycling units for long-duration missions. These are not subcontractors, they are lead operators within a broader space infrastructure buildout.

Even Amazon, once a passive customer of launch services, is now building Project Kuiper, a satellite broadband constellation rivaling SpaceX’s Starlink, complete with its own launch architecture. This marks the era where telecom, climate-tech, logistics, and data firms all hold real commercial space equity, not just interest—supported by steady space technology investment and selective private equity in space tech participation.

From Flags to Footprints: A Permanent Space Presence

The global space ecosystem is no longer a fragmented list of countries, it’s bifurcated between two major blocs, each building its own version of permanence.

The U.S.-led ecosystem is anchored by NASA’s Artemis program, a multinational push to return humans to the Moon, establish semi-permanent bases, and build the Lunar Gateway. But unlike the Apollo era, NASA is not the sole actor. Companies like SpaceX, Axiom, Intuitive Machines, and Astrobotic are leading the charge. This isn’t about planting flags, it’s about building space infrastructure that stays.

The China-led bloc, with Tiangong Station already operational and lunar base plans underway, is building its own stack, hardware, regulation, logistics, and developing its commercial space capacity. Backed by Russia and others, its vision includes a shared lunar research outpost and eventual Mars ambitions.

India has emerged as a powerful third force, its Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeded at the lunar south pole, and its commercial players like Pixxel and Agnikul are drawing global capital. ISRO’s ambitions include human spaceflight and a reusable launch vehicle—clear signals for future space technology investment and potential private equity in space tech partnerships.

Other players, from Europe and Japan to UAE and South Korea, align across both ecosystems through bilateral missions, commercial partnerships, and scientific leadership.

The crucial shift? Today, space is no longer about symbolic visits. It’s driven by a broader commercial space imperative, and a permanence to remain. Cislunar first. Then, cismars. The Moon is no longer the finish line. It’s the starting point for staying—an irreversible step for the space economy.

As China builds its lunar south pole space infrastructure, and NASA pushes for permanent modules and logistics lines, a new question emerges: Who controls the high ground between earth and orbital zones and within cislunar space? Space transport rights, resource utilization rights, refueling nodes, orbital corridors, gravity wells; these are becoming the sea lanes of the future for commercial space.

Reframing the Risk: From Ownership to Utilization

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits sovereign claims in space. Instead of ownership, the future lies in clear rules of engagement and utilization rights, especially for lunar resources, orbital slots, and servicing missions.
This means we need:

• Debris mitigation protocols
  
  
• Licensing clarity for orbital servicing, manufacturing
  
  
• Internationally recognized safe zones and coordination norms
  
  We’ve seen what happens when governance lags, whether in oceans or cyberspace. Space can’t afford that delay—particularly as space infrastructure densifies and space technology investment accelerates.
  
  

KPMG’s Space Integration Ladder: Private Capital’s On-Ramp

KPMG’s Space Integration Ladder offers a path for private equity:

• Foundation: Acquire domain knowledge, recruit experts, test partnerships
  
  
• Growth: Deploy capital, pilot joint ventures, expand portfolio diversity
  
  
• Expansion: Move to full-stack investments, pursue vertical integration, drive industry shaping
  
  This model mirrors how private capital scaled telecom, rail, and logistics sectors, and it maps cleanly to private equity in space tech strategies that target space infrastructure platforms and commercial space operators.

The biggest challenge isn't just money, it's readiness. Firms climbing this ladder must blend technical literacy with governance fluency. This is where generalist capital often fails, and specialized capital thrives in space technology investment.

Infrastructure in Orbit: What the Space “Way of Life” Looks Like

Space is not just tech. It’s shaping how we live:

• In-orbit manufacturing: Varda, Redwire, and others are building pharmaceuticals, crystals, and semiconductors only possible in zero-G.
  
  
• Orbital logistics: Astroscale, Northrop’s servicing missions, and Orbit Fab’s refueling plans hint at a future freight layer in orbit—core space infrastructure for commercial space.
  
  
• Space internet: Starlink, Kuiper, and OneWeb are creating global coverage, not just convenience, but economic inclusion across the space economy.
  
  
• Climate and crisis intelligence: Satellites now power real-time insights into wars, wildfires, water scarcity, and insurance underwriting.
  
  
• Tourism and habitation: From Axiom’s private modules to lunar base concepts by multiple nations, human presence is no longer fiction—sustained by space technology investment and scalable space infrastructure.
  
  

The $1.8 Trillion Opportunity, And the Big Question

According to the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, the space economy will grow from $630 billion in 2023 to $1.8 trillion by 2035, with an annual growth rate of 9%, far outpacing global GDP. If enabling technologies and connectivity scale faster, the upside projection reaches $2.3 trillion.

What’s more revealing: the “reach” economy (i.e., industries enabled by space) will account for 60% of this growth, in supply chain, defense, telecom, agriculture, disaster response, and mobility. That’s where the long-term returns will compound for commercial space ecosystems and for private equity in space tech seeking durable cash flows.

This time, space infrastructure won’t be built by governments alone. It will be a patchwork of VC-funded startups, defense primes, sovereign wealth funds, and crowd-in capital, each betting on different timelines, tech stacks, and outcomes—driving heterogeneous space technology investment. That makes coordination harder, and more urgent.

But scale without strategy is dangerous. Will low-income nations get satellite access? Will governance protect shared orbits? Will this growth be inclusive?

In 1890, cars were strange. In 1910, planes were risky. In 2025, space feels speculative.

By 2150, space won’t be a “sector.” It’ll be infrastructure, just like roads, power grids, and the internet are today.

The real question isn’t if we’ll get there. It’s whether we’ll build the future with care, and for everyone—so the space economy remains open, commercial space thrives, space infrastructure is resilient, space technology investment stays disciplined, and private equity in space tech plays a productive, long-term role.

‍

Ref

https://www.space.com/nasa-economic-impact-us-2023-report

‍