Research and analysis

Size and Health of the UK Space Industry 2024

Published 16 July 2025

1. Size and Health of the UK Space Industry 2024

Summary report

July 2025

2. About London Economics

London Economics is one of Europe’s leading specialist economics and policy consultancies headquartered in London. We advise clients in both the public and private sectors on economic and financial analysis, policy development and evaluation, business strategy, and regulatory and competition policy.

Our consultants are highly-qualified economists with experience in applying a wide variety of analytical techniques to assist our work, including cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis, policy simulation, scenario building, statistical analysis and mathematical modelling. We are also experienced in using a wide range of data collection techniques including literature reviews, survey questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.

The London Economics Space Team, a dedicated team of professional economists specialised in the space sector, have been pioneering innovative analytical techniques to provide trusted economic advice to decision-makers across the space industry, space agencies, and international governments across more than 140 projects since 2008. A solid understanding of the economics of space, expertise in economic analysis, industry, and technical knowledge, reduces uncertainty and helps guide decision-makers using tailored economic analysis.

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3. Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the useful guidance and feedback provided by the UK Space Agency and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology throughout this research, as well as the Royal Institute of Navigation, regional space clusters, and other industry bodies in promoting the survey. We would also like to thank all of the survey respondents for their informative questionnaire responses. Responsibility for the contents of this report remains with London Economics.

4. Authors

Philip Hagelberg, Economic Consultant

Rasmus Flytkjær, Partner

Jannik Neu, Economic Analyst

Dr Ethan Sorrell, Research Analyst

Clio Von Petersdorff, Senior Economic Consultant

Dr Su-Min Lee, Principal Consultant

5. Table of Contents

Key findings

The state of the UK space industry in context

Importance of the industry

Outlook for the industry

Introduction

Approach

Space sector segmentation

Methodology

Adjusting historical data to current prices

Survey sample

Survey sample comparison

Changes from the previous edition

Caveats and limitations

Size and Health of the UK space industry

Population

Industry composition

Population growth

Income

Income by segment

Income by activity

Income by capability / OECD sector

Income by customer type

Income by income band

Exports

Income by customer location

Gross Value-Added (GVA)

Gross Value-Added by segment

Gross Value-Added by activity

Employment

Employment by segment

Employment by activity

Productivity

Inputs

Research and Development (R&D)

Qualifications and training

Workforce composition

Investment in the UK space industry

External investment

Overview of investments into the UK space industry

Obstacles to securing external investment

Internal investment reported by survey respondents

Regional distribution of the UK space industry

Population by region

Income by region

Employment by region

Supply chain effects

Multipliers

Gross Value-Added (GVA)

Employment

Engagement with the UK Space Agency

Future growth potential

Enablers to growth

Barriers to growth

3-year outlook

Wider impact of space activities

UK GDP supported by satellite services

Conclusion

Annex 1 Updated segment mapping

6. Key findings

The UK Space Industry is an economically important part of the UK economy, growing in real terms by 3.3% per year, on average, since financial year 2009/10, and supporting a wide range of activities in sectors across the economy.

This edition of the ‘Size and Health of the UK Space Industry’ analysed the 2022/23 financial year. Space industry employment exhibited strong growth of 3,521 (+7%) relative to 2021/22, with an estimated 55,550 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) and a further 81,400 indirectly supported jobs across the supply chain. Sectors that rely on satellite services also represent a larger share of GDP in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22 (18% of total UK GDP compared to 16% in 2021/22), driven by the economy’s return to growth following the lifting of COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions, especially by the petroleum sector – a key user of satellite services. However, partly resulting from wider macroeconomic challenges (including high rates of inflation) which are discussed below, in real terms UK space industry income was £18.6bn in 2022/23, 8.9% lower than 2021/22, with GVA falling by 7.5%. The reduction in real GVA alongside an increase in employment meant that estimated productivity fell from £148,000 to £129,000 GVA per employee although remains more than twice the national average of £61,729.

In nominal terms, sector income and GVA exhibited small reductions compared to 2021/22 with the high rate of inflation of 7.9% contributing substantially to the real terms contraction – under the Bank of England’s target rate of inflation at 2.0%, the real terms income reduction would have been around 6 percentage points lower^{[footnote 1]}. The nature of the space sector means it is particularly sensitive to increases in input costs (including energy) due to the war in Ukraine, lingering effects from the Covid-19 pandemic, and trade complexities with the EU. Comparable sectors, including those heavily susceptible to increased costs, also experienced substantial falls in GVA over the period, suggesting inflationary effects were not exclusive to the space sector.

This iteration of the Size and Health study series includes a number of methodological changes, relating to reassessments of space-related revenue due to more accurate data being made available. This has reduced total space sector income by £418m, meaning if the previous year’s methodology was used for this year’s turnover figures, real sector income would exhibit a relatively lower decline of -6.8%, and a nominal terms increase of 0.6%.

There is evidence that the real-terms decline in these statistics is also due to a lagged effect from other factors, including:

• The long-term nature of space projects and contracts signed by space companies which means that challenging macroeconomic conditions are not exhibited immediately in firm-level outcomes. This is demonstrated by the growth of the UK space industry in 2020/21 despite general macroeconomic challenges, with a contraction first exhibited in 2021/22. In some cases, contracts are completely fixed in nominal terms, with no provisions for inflationary adjustments; in other cases contracts may include mechanisms to adjust for expected inflation from the outset. High levels of input inflation can erode the real value of contract payments, placing significant financial strain on organisations. As a result, while nominal payments may remain relatively stable, their real value can diminish significantly. Additionally, as long-term contracts reach conclusion, the industry, and its primes in particular, may experience a drop in activity unless replacement contracts are found. Primes rely on a wide range of domestic and international suppliers which may also experience the same effect.

• The UK-EU withdrawal agreement being made effective in the 2020/21 financial year following the transition period, limiting the involvement of UK companies in EU space programmes. Contracts for the EU’s Space Programme began to be awarded exclusively to non-UK entities during the transition period, with the final withdrawal date acting as a final cut-off. As such, the loss of access to certain space programmes such as Galileo were not felt immediately.

• Satellite communications income fell by 16% due to a combination of geopolitical, economic and competitive pressures. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted satellite deployment schedules - most notably OneWeb cancelling launches originally planned with Russia’s Soyuz rockets and seeking alternative launch providers, leading to delays in service rollouts and revenue generation, while the broader economic climate increased operational costs and likely hindered infrastructure development. The rapid global expansion of LEO broadband constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink intensified competition, impacting UK-based companies across the satellite communications value chain. The disruption in the market from traditional geostationary satellites toward newer LEO constellations is also likely reflected in these figures, as is the impact of declining revenues from direct-to-home broadband via satellite.

• The concentrated nature of the UK space industry meaning that the primes play a significant role in driving overall income changes. These companies secure major government contracts but when such contracts conclude or move beyond their peak production phases, the absence of immediate follow-on contracts leads to a significant decline in income. This affects both the primes and their supply chains.

The strong growth in employment is part due to the identification of over 151 new companies that engage in the UK space industry, representing 1,386 space-related employees. Numerous survey respondents who reported declines in revenue, reported stable employment figures, implying that firms involved in the space sector are not laying off workers despite falling real revenues. This may be due to a general optimism for the future reported by survey respondents, implying that companies expect to see a recovery in revenues over the next few years, and leading them to preserve their skills and capabilities.

As evidenced by a number of survey respondents, there continued to be significant recruitment difficulties. Barriers to hiring international talent, including visa constraints and reduced access to the EU labour market, have made it challenging for UK organisations to recruit the necessary talent.

Several survey respondents reported an ongoing shortage of skilled candidates, which has restricted company growth, and in some cases, led to lost revenue. This effect is supported by the reported skills and qualifications among employees in firms responding to the survey, where the proportion of university-educated employees has reduced to 69% (from 80% in 2021/22) and proportion of vocationally qualified staff has reduced to 8% (from 11% in 2021/22).

Despite the reduction in certain economic outcomes, the space industry remains optimistic. 60% of survey respondents indicated that they expect their income to increase over the next three years, with over half (52%) indicating an expectation of total spending to increase, and half of respondents stated they expect employment to increase over this period.

Further, respondents indicated that the key enablers of success are engagement with public institutions. ‘UK funding via ESA programmes’ was the most selected enabler of growth (31%), followed by ‘support and engagement with the UK Space Agency’ (29%), and ‘support or engagement with your local space cluster’ (24%).

Reflecting the continued optimistic outlook among survey respondents, the total number of unique investments into the UK space industry remained relatively high when compared to previous years, and when considering the total value of investments under £100m (i.e. excluding less regular ‘mega-deals’), investment was higher than last year. 

7. The state of the UK space industry in context

• Total UK space industry income was £18.6bn, a -8.9% fall in real terms versus 2021/22. In real terms, UK space industry income in 2022/23 is similar to the results reported for 2016/17 in the 2018 Size and Health report. Total UK space industry income declined by 1.6% in nominal terms versus 2021/22.

• Excluding Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcasting, UK space industry income was £9.7bn, with the share of non-DTH activities at 52% in 2022/23 (53% in 2021/22). DTH occupies a similar share of UK space industry income as reported for 2016/17.

• The industry numbers 1,907 organisations, a net increase of 142 since last year. The number of organisations captured in this edition of the study is more than twice the number of organisations analysed in the 2018 edition of the study.

• Segments that experienced growth were: Ancillary Services (+3%, +£17m) and In-space Economy (+42%, +£18m).

• Segments that experienced decline were: Space Applications (-11%, -£593m), Space Manufacturing (-9%, -£245m), and Space Operations (-17%, -£409m).

• Compared with 2016/17, Space Applications account for a greater share of turnover (25% vs 21% then), while the Space Operations proportion has fallen (from 15% to 10%). Ancillary Services, Space Manufacturing and DTH Broadcasting account for the same proportion of income (3%, 48%, and 13%, respectively).

8. Importance of the industry

• Direct employment constituted an estimated 55,550 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs), representing a 6.8% growth versus 2021/22’s 52,000 FTEs. This is equivalent to 0.17% of the total UK workforce, with a further 81,400 indirectly supported jobs across the supply chain giving a total of 137,000 jobs supported (128,500 in 2021/22). Direct employment has increased by 13,600 since 2016/17.

• The industry contributed £7.2 billion of direct Gross Value-Added (GVA) to UK economic output in 2022/23 (39% of industry income), versus £7.8bn (38%) in 2021/22.

• The reduction in real GVA is smaller than the reduction in income, indicating that the UK Space Industry adds slightly more value to the economy per pound of income in 2022/23 than in 2021/22. This may be a result of a slight shift in the industry’s activities towards human-capital based activities and away from activities based on intermediate inputs, although given the size of the discrepancy of contraction rates, other factors may be relevant.

• The real-terms growth of the UK space industry GVA of -7.5% relative to 2021/22 means the growth of the GVA of the space industry lagged behind real UK GDP growth of 2.3%.

• The industry contributed a total GVA effect of £16.7 billion when including indirect and induced effects in the wider UK economy (£18.3 billion in 2021/22).

• Labour productivity (GVA per employee) for the industry was £129,000 (£149,000 in 2021/22), more than double UK average labour productivity (£61,729).

• The UK space industry workforce is particularly highly skilled, with 7 out of 10 (69%) employees in responding organisations holding at least a bachelor’s degree (80% in 2021/22).

• Exports fell in real terms to £5.8bn (from £6.2bn in 2021/22), accounting for 31% of total income (the same as 2021/22).

• For non-DTH activities, following an increase of 15% in the real value of exports to Europe since 2021/22, Europe remains the most important export market for the UK space industry, representing 41% of total exports and 24% of total income. Compared with 2016/17, however, European exports (including DTH) have fallen from 20% of total income to 13%, reflecting real changes following the UK-EU withdrawal.

• The UK space industry has a strong commercial focus – 82% of income is commercial, comprised of sales to consumers (including DTH broadcasting) at 48%, and sales to other businesses at 34%. That said, the public sector as customer and funder is also of key importance (17%), comprised of: Defence (10%), Other Civil Government (4%), European Space Agency (ESA) (2%), Research/Science Funding bodies (1%), other Space Agencies (1%).

• Remaining the largest single activity, the share of income accounted for by DTH broadcasting was 48% in 2022/23 (47% in 2021/22). This highlights the continued importance of satellites for signal distribution.

• The industry is concentrated and dominated by a few large organisations, with just 12 organisations accounting for 69% of space-related income, 16 for the next 6%, and 1,879 for the remaining 25%. Only two organisations each generated space revenues of over £1 billion and 266 other companies each generated over £5m in space revenue.

• Industrial sites (and employment) are concentrated in London, the South East, South West, East of England, and Scotland, however all UK regions/nations are home to at least one headquarter of a space organisation.

9. Outlook for the industry

• The enablers of growth that were selected most frequently were UK funding via ESA programmes, support and engagement with the UK Space Agency, support or engagement with an organisation’s local space cluster, and increased spending across UK national space programmes.

• Access to funding featured most frequently in survey respondents’ selection of growth constraints. Additionally, macroeconomic challenges, human capital constraints, and limitations on EU programme involvement were assessed to be important constraints to growth.

• That said, survey respondents indicated optimism with respect to near-term growth: 3 in 5 expect income to be higher in the coming three years (61%, with 42% expecting income to be much higher). Over half (52%) expected to spend more, 50% expected increased employment, 49% expected increased exports, and 46% expected increased Research & Development (R&D) expenditure.

• An estimated £1bn was spent by UK space organisations in 2022/23 on research and development, equivalent to 5.7% of total industry income (5.1% in 2021/22).

• UK-headquartered space companies attracted investment of £481m in total over 92 identified investment deals. Grants/prizes accounted for the largest share of total investment value (44%) and over half of all deals (55%). Venture capital represented 43% of the total investment value in 2024 and 16% of the total number of all deals in 2024.

• 4 in 5 respondents had a positive view of their engagement with the UK Space Agency (though this may reflect bias in the sample of respondents).

10.    Introduction

The UK Space Agency, an executive agency within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), delivers key elements of the Government’s National Space Strategy. The UK Space Agency catalyse investment to maximise long-term growth in the sector, delivers space capabilities and missions that meet national needs, and champions the power of space to inspire people, and offer greener, smarter solutions for business, and to support a sustainable future. Since its inception in 1992 by the British National Space Centre (BNSC), the Size and Health of the UK Space Industry report series has acted as the single most important source of data that delivers statistics and analysis on the performance, vitality, and challenges faced by UK organisations operating in the space sector. Now implemented by the UK Space Agency, this analysis serves as the foundation for evidence-based decision-making and enables the tracking of progress on the National Space Strategy’s goals.

The report presents the 2024 edition of the Size and Health of the UK Space Industry report series, providing the most accurate figures^{[footnote 2]} for the economic outlook of the UK space sector for the 2022/23 financial year. External investment data for the calendar year 2024 is also presented. After extensive feedback from respondents to the 2023 Size and Health study, this year’s survey reduced the length and complexity of the survey, helping to encourage an increase in the number of responses, and an overall improvement in the engagement of participants.

This study combines survey inputs with secondary research to measure the space economy. The study aims to provide a comprehensive, and accurate overview of the size, performance, and characteristics of organisations engaged in space-related activities in the UK.

11.    Approach

The ‘space industry’ is defined to include all organisations (or part thereof) that are engaged in any space-related activity. It comprises both:

• Commercial organisations (i.e. businesses, companies, firms) that earn revenue from the manufacture, launch and operation of satellites/spacecraft, and from the utilisation of the signals and data supplied by satellites/spacecraft to develop value-added applications; and

• Non-commercial organisations (e.g. universities, research institutes) that secure funding to contribute space-specific research and expertise throughout the industry supply chain, often in partnership with commercial organisations.

Consistent with previous editions, the term ‘income’ covers both commercial revenues and non-commercial funding. We exclude organisations if they have no identifiable income from space-related activities (unless they respond to the survey and clarify they are pre-revenue), or if they have no identifiable UK-based operations. Space-related activity relates to activities that either construct, launch, or operate assets in space, or critically depend on such assets to function on the ground. Organisations that ‘use’ space assets (including commercially), to improve or refine their offerings, but would be able to function without space for an extended period of time, are not included. E.g., a manufacturer of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) devices for agriculture is in scope, but a farmer is not.

11.1    Space sector segmentation

The segmentation used in this report is consistent with the previous Size and Health study, which includes the in-space economy. Space manufacturing companies trade with space operations and in-space economy firms. They in turn sell to space applications firms, which provide services for consumers, public users, and commercial users. Ancillary services are used in all other segments of the industry (manufacturing, operations, in-space, applications). Following this segmentation, a ‘space-related activity’ is defined to be any one of the following sub-segments, including the listed activities:

• Space Manufacturing: Design and/or manufacture of space equipment and subsystems

Including: launch vehicles and subsystems, satellites / payloads / spacecraft and subsystems, scientific instruments, ground segment systems and equipment (control centres and telemetry), suppliers of materials and components, scientific and engineering support, fundamental and applied research.

• Space Operations: Launch and/or operation of satellites and/or spacecraft

Including: launch services, launch brokerage services, proprietary satellite operation (incl. sale/lease of capacity), third-party ground segment operation, ground station networks.

• In-Space Economy

Including: in-orbit servicing (incl. space-tugs), in-space manufacturing, Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST), debris removal, space tourism, space resource utilisation, other in-space/lunar activities.

• Space Applications: Applications of satellite signals and data

Including: Direct-To-Home (DTH) broadcasting, fixed and mobile satellite communications services (incl. Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT)), location-based signal and connectivity service providers, supply of user devices and equipment, processors of satellite data, applications relying on embedded satellite signals (e.g. Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and location-based services) and/or data (e.g. meteorology, commercial Geographic Information System (GIS) software and geospatial products), other (e.g. Quantum Key Distribution).

• Ancillary Services

Including: launch and satellite insurance (incl. brokerage) services, financial and legal services, software and IT services, market research and consultancy services, business incubation and development, policymaking, regulation and oversight.

11.2    Methodology

This report maintains the methodology of previous editions to preserve the consistency of the time series and to support the UK Space Agency’s objectives of identifying patterns of growth and emerging trends.

The key issue complicating the task of measuring the economic activity of the space sector is the fact that ‘space’, as defined by the activities identified above, is not recognised as a category in international standards of industrial classification (e.g. UK SIC 2007). As a result, official statistics do not allow for space to be isolated as a distinct economic activity and so it must be approximated. A more fundamental implication is that organisations engaged in space-related activities are not already classified and must be identified by some other means.

As a starting point, we utilised the list of 1,765 organisations from the 2023 edition of Size & Health. A total of 32 organisations were removed as these have exited the UK space sector. Furthermore, 174 new organisations with identifiable space-related activities were added from the following sources:

• Market research (including company websites, the UK Space Directory, company-level proprietary databases, and subscription-based sources, such as Moody’s Fame database);

• A variety of space-specific industry lists (e.g. ESA contracts database, ESA Business Applications, member lists of UK space clusters and hubs, and the UK Space Trade Association);

• Attendees and exhibitors at relevant conferences;

• Identification of UK universities with space-related research and/or education using data from the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) as outlined in Box 1; and,

• Self-identification of companies who chose to respond to the online survey.

In all cases, organisations were individually assessed for space-relevance against the space-related activities detailed previously. This involved a detailed review of websites, annual reports, and other publicly available information.

The approach applied in this study employs a combination of primary and secondary research methods to provide key statistics of the UK space industry. This includes 218 responses to an online survey from stakeholders. The online survey was open between October and December 2024, inviting all space organisations in the UK for which contact details were obtainable. The survey was also promoted on social media, by industry organisations, and by the UK Space Agency. Desk-based research leveraged statutory annual reports on Companies House, Moody’s Fame database, London Economics’ existing databases and knowledge of the space industry^{[footnote 3]}, as well as wider GVA estimates from the Annual Business Survey (ABS) obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Specific effort was devoted to capturing the space-related activities of higher education institutions, as described below.

Income analysis of Higher Education Institutions

Higher Education Institutions are home to a multitude of space-related activities, including fundamental and applied research, teaching and training, and as partners in European Space Agency (ESA) projects. Where no survey data was available for universities, data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) was used to assess the space-related income and employment of higher education institutions. Information on the share of students studying a space-related subject^{[footnote 4]} out of all students enrolled in the 2022/23 academic year was used to proxy the share of university activity that is space-related^{[footnote 5]}. This share of space activity and data on the total university income^{[footnote 6]} and total academic staff^{[footnote 7]}, was used to estimate the space-related income and employment for each higher education institution included in the analysis. This approach was found to be consistent with survey responses from higher education institutions in the sample. Where specific survey responses were received pertaining to specific research groups, these were added as separate space activities for the university (additional to other income).

Estimating the value of UK economic output that is supported by satellite services draws on national statistics data from the ONS and a detailed assessment of UK industrial sectors. For each statistical sector of the economy (5-digit SIC code), we have drawn on existing knowledge from a wide range of projects over the last decade on how space data and services are used to determine the degree of reliance on space. This reliance value is then matched to SIC codes in the Annual Business Survey at the ONS to derive the total GVA produced in sectors that use space. GVA in a SIC code was deemed supported by space when analysis of the sector’s activities suggests that the loss of space services would have material impact on the sector (beyond that which would be felt by the general population).

Available data is at the SIC sector level, which means that occasionally disparate activities are provided in aggregate. For example, in the case of non-life insurance (65.11), it includes: (i) accident and fire insurance; (ii) health insurance; (iii) travel insurance; (iv) property insurance; (v) motor, marine, aviation and transport insurance; and (vi) pecuniary loss and liability insurance. Space data and services are used by providers of health insurance (activity-tracking-based incentives), property insurance (EO-based risk assessments), and motor insurance (black-box based car insurance), but not by other providers (e.g. travel insurance). A material proportion of companies in the sector would be disrupted by a loss of satellite data and services and the sector’s GVA is therefore deemed supported by space. In other words, this would result in a slight overestimate of the economic output from the non-life insurance sector that is supported by satellite services.

11.3    Adjusting historical data to current prices

Historical figures are adjusted to current prices using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate. The CPI data was from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the value used in the analysis being the average over the year 2022, at 7.9%^{[footnote 8]}.

11.4    Survey sample

The survey sample includes all organisations that have been identified to have at least some space-related activity. Starting from the organisations included in the contact database for the 2023 Size and Health survey, the identification of additional companies drew on member lists of industry organisations, extracted data identifying UK-based contractors or grantees to the European Space Agency (ESA), members of space clusters, and attendees/exhibitors at space conferences in the UK.

Due to the voluntary nature of the survey, the composition of responding organisations might not be representative of the wider UK space ecosystem. Out of the 2,284 organisations with activities that appeared potentially space-relevant, who were invited to fill out the online survey^{[footnote 9]}, we gathered 218 responses^{[footnote 10]}. This includes 177 full responses that completed the entire questionnaire and 41 partial responses that contributed key information. These organisations were engaged via email, social media outreach, and via industry organisations and their own networks. The resulting sample is therefore a convenience sample rather than a random sample of organisations^{[footnote 11]}. Further investigation of the non-responders revealed that 377 organisations could not be attributed to any space-related activities. The remaining 1,689 non-responding organisations were assessed through a combination of desk-based research and projection of historical survey responses where available and appropriate.

Where available, the metrics included in this report are based on a combination of survey response data, and data from secondary sources reflecting the whole industry. This includes space-related income and employment numbers. However, some metrics are only available from the survey itself, e.g. Research & Development (R&D) spending. Numbers presented in this report on those metrics therefore only reflect the sample of organisations that responded to the survey. The quality of this data was assured wherever possible with historical survey responses, internal consistency, comparisons with similar organisations, fundamental accounting identities, and cross-checks against annual reports and other information in the public domain. Taken together, these processes represent best practice to minimise potential bias that arises from self-selection into responding to survey questions. As such, the results presented in this report are the best current estimate of the UK Space Industry and are consistent with previous editions of the study.

11.5    Survey sample comparison

It is important to compare the sample of surveyed companies in this iteration of the Size & Health report series, with the sample from the 2023 edition of Size & Health in order to understand the extent of the comparability between years.

Firstly, we can compare the size of companies across the two samples. In broad terms the two samples are very similar, despite there being a larger proportion of smaller companies and a smaller proportion of large companies in 2024 (see the table below for a comparison of the samples). More specifically, there is a larger proportion of small or medium-sized enterprises (41% in 2023 compared to 45% in 2024), and a larger proportion of micro-sized commercial enterprises (40% in 2023 compared to 43% in 2024). Large commercial enterprises make up a relatively smaller proportion in the 2024 sample (11% in 2023 compared to 6% in 2024). Additionally, Research/Non-commercial companies make up a smaller proportion of the 2024 sample (9% in 2023 compared to 6% in 2024).

Company classification, 2023 and 2024

Company classification	2023	2024
-	-
Micro-sized commercial enterprise (≤10)	40%	43%
Small or medium-sized commercial enterprise, SME (10 < employees < 250)	41%	45%
Large commercial enterprise (≥250)	11%	6%
Research / non-commercial	9%	6%

Note: Based on responses from 199 and 209 respondents for 2023 and 2024 respectively. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health data (2024); London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health data (2023)

Further, we can compare the types of activities that surveyed companies engage in. The table below shows the engagement in space-related activities for the 2023 and 2024 Size & Health samples. In general, the types of activities that companies engage in are similar across the two samples. The proportion of companies engaging in “launch and/or the operation of satellites”, and the “in-space economy” are identical across both years. There is a slight increase in the proportion of activity for the “applications of satellite signals and data” (38% in 2023 compared to 39% in 2024). There are however larger differences in the proportion of companies engaged in “specialised support services” (47% in 2023 compared to 39% in 2024) and in the “design and/or manufacture of space equipment and subsystems” (56% in 2023 compared to 51% in 2024).

Engagement in space-related activities, 2023 and 2024

Space-related activity	2023	2024
-	-
Design and/or manufacture of space equipment and subsystems	56%	51%
Specialised support services	47%	39%
Applications of satellite signals and data	38%	39%
In-space economy	26%	26%
Launch and/or operation of satellites	23%	23%

Note: Based on responses from 208 and 218 respondents for 2023 and 2024 respectively. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. The data considers whether a respondent stated they engaged in a particular space-related activity, and does not take into account the level of involvement in that activity. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health data (2023); London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health data (2024)

11.6    Changes from the previous edition

This iteration of the Size and Health report made an effort to reduce the length of the survey after extensive feedback from respondents from the previous year’s survey. This included the removal of the following questions relating to:

• The impact of several recent events, including COVID-19, and the Ukraine war

• The Impact of UK Space Agency-funded programmes

• The impact of UK launch

• Obstacles to international competitiveness for the UK launch offer

• The training of space-related employees in certain subjects (e.g., engineering, science and/or mathematics, social sciences etc.)

• Management experience

• Contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Carbon emission monitoring

This also included restructuring several questions, including:

• Consolidating several customer locations to reduce the number of options for that question

• Consolidating several customer types to reduce the number of options for that question

• Consolidating several sources of investment to reduce the number of options for that question

• Changing all ranking questions to tick boxes

• Consolidating several potential growth obstacles to reduce the number of options for that question

Separate reporting of DTH Broadcasting

In addition, key statistics have been presented slightly differently for income, employment, and GVA than in previous iterations of the Size & Health of the UK Space Industry report series. Headline figures are provided for these key statistics, which are then broken down by DTH Broadcasting activities, and non-DTH broadcasting activities, to provide greater insight into the dynamics of the UK space sector over time. These presentational changes do not affect the comparability to historical headline figures.

Reassessment of space-related income

Due to new data being made available, a number of reassessments to the space related income have been made in order to increase the accuracy of the statistics in this report. These reassessments have reduced total space sector income by £418m, meaning if the previous year’s methodology was used for this year’s turnover figures, real sector income would exhibit a relatively lower decline of -6.8%, and a nominal terms increase of 0.6%.

12.    Caveats and limitations

Though the research has been conducted by a team of independent economists with specialist knowledge of the space sector, using best practice and best judgement to calculate robust and fair estimates, the following caveats apply:

• Measurement error uncertainty: As a survey-based data collection activity, the quality of report outputs is related to the quality of the inputs. The length and complexity of the survey has resulted in erroneous inputs. The quality assurance process captured a number of those errors. While it is not possible to know whether all erroneous inputs have been identified through this QA process, cross-checking with all available data (from prior waves and official records) has minimised the impact of anything that may have been included.

• Unidentified omissions: Despite best efforts, there is a possibility that some organisations with space-related activities based in the UK have been missed, but any omissions are likely to be relatively small companies and would not have a meaningful impact on estimates.

• Sample bias: Since the survey was voluntary, the sample represents only those companies that are willing to provide information and insights about their organisation rather than a random sample of the industry. Indeed, a subset of questions within the survey were entirely optional. Representativeness of the sample (in terms of space-related income and breakdowns of this by segment, activity, income level, and region – each relative to historical Size and Health results) has been tested and additional effort was undertaken to reactively increase response rates among groups which were initially underrepresented. The final sample included sufficient organisations across each breakdown to justify the use of sample estimates for wider inference, but it should be noted that results throughout this report are based on what is ultimately a non-randomised and small (relative to total population) sample of organisations. Another key survey limitation is the continued non-response to the survey of the UK’s largest space organisations, including Sky UK.

• Exchange rate fluctuations: The monetary values quoted in this report are expressed in GBP. Since the UK space industry sources inputs from overseas and exports goods/services for sale abroad (requiring conversion between GBP prices and foreign currency), the pattern of income over time therefore reflects both an actual change in sale volumes and fluctuations in currency values over time. The impact of these exchange rate movements may be delayed owing to a lag effect of forward contracts for imported inputs. Over the 2022/23 financial year, there was a slight increase in the EUR/GBP exchange rate, as well as an initial increase followed by a drop in the USD/GBP exchange rate.

• Financial years: All companies (with formal requirements to report figures) estimate income and employment across financial years. The start and end dates of these reporting years vary between companies. Estimates of space-related income and employment recorded for this study therefore reflect the specific financial years of companies. Reference to years in this report similarly reflects financial years and not calendar years.

• Qualitative assessments: Qualitative discussions regarding trends and causal relationships are based on expert opinion supplemented by survey respondents’ answers to open-text questions. These qualitative assessments should be understood as indicative.

Note: All figures presented are in constant 2022/23 (financial year) prices. All growth rates are in real terms (inflation-adjusted), all average growth rates are compound annual growth rates (CAGR).

13.    Size and Health of the UK space industry

14.    Population

The industrial population (i.e. all UK-based organisations confirmed in our research to have space-related activities in the period of analysis) is 1,907 organisations with space-related activities. The 218 collected survey responses capture 15% of total industry income, accounting for £2.88bn of a total £18.6bn (15% in 2021/22). When excluding Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcasting, 30% of industry income is captured by the survey (29% in 2021/22). Pre-revenue start-ups were among the respondents, however, 71% of the survey respondents reported a non-zero space-related revenue.

Survey representation of total organisations

Source of data	Organisations	Industry income (£bn)
-	-
Non-survey	1,689	15.7
Survey	218	2.9
Total	1,907	18.6

Source: London Economics

14.1    Industry composition

The UK space industry is highly concentrated, where a few large organisations account for a large proportion of the income in 2022/23. In fact, 12 organisations account for 69% of the space-related income, 16 for the next 6%, and 1,879 for the remaining 25%. Only 2 organisations each generated more than £1bn, and 266 each generated more than £5m.

Composition of the UK space industry, by space income band

Income Bands	Total income (2021/22, £m)	Total income (2022/23, £m)	Total number of organisations (2022/23)
-	-	-
< £250k	52	49	712
£250k - £1M	244	247	451
£1M - £5M	1,213	1,165	478
£5M - £50M	3,295	3,260	238
£50M - £100M	909	1,046	16
> £100M	14,701	12,822	12
Total	20,414	18,590	1,907

Note: The income bands are provided in current prices (and unchanged). The income by band has been inflated to 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

The table below shows the distribution of income bands captured by the survey responses compared to the distribution of income bands within the overall industry.

Distribution of income bands captured by the survey and overall industry

Income bands	Survey income distribution	Industry income distribution	% of industry income captured by survey
-	-	-
< £250k	0.1%	0.3%	9%
£250k - £1M	0.9%	1.3%	11%
£1M - £5M	1.7%	6.3%	4%
£5M - £50M	11.0%	17.5%	10%
50M - £100M	6.0%	5.6%	17%
> £100M	80.1%	69.0%	18%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	15%

Source: London Economics

14.2    Population growth

A net total of 142 new UK organisations were identified as having space-related activities (an increase of 8% on 2023’s Size and Health edition). This includes 23 new incorporations from April 2022 until December 2023, 151 newly captured organisations, and 32 exits. The total number of organisations identified and the year-on-year change are presented for the years 2006-2024 in the table below. The newly identified organisations are spread across the five industry segments and their activities. Of these organisations, 43% work on activities in the space manufacturing segment, while 39% are active in space applications. One-quarter operate in the ancillary services and space operations segments. The lowest share of newly identified organisations is involved in the in-space economy segment (18%)^{[footnote 12]}.

Number of identified UK space organisations, 2006-2024

Year	Population
—–	—–
2006	227
2008	208
2010	260
2012	234
2014	303
2016	697
2018	948
2020	1,218
2021	1,293
2022	1,590
2023	1,765
2024	1,907

Source: London Economics

The 151 newly captured organisations encompass both organisations that have traditionally not been involved in the UK space sector before 2023 and have now commenced space-related activities as well as organisations that were not identified in previous editions.

Income change decomposition, by reason for industry entry/exit

Organisation status	Number of organisations	Income growth relative to previous year (£m)	Within group growth rate
-	-	-
Total (2021/22)	1,765	-	-
Attrition (exits)	-32	-204	-
Previously captured	1,733	-1,791	-9%
- Survey respondents for 2023 and 2024	87	-271	-19%
- Large company analysis[footnote 13]	41	-1,247	-12%
- Desk-based research	1,605	-273	-
– High confidence estimate[footnote 14]	363	-209	-7%
– Lower confidence estimate[footnote 15]	1,066	-179	-5%
– Filled in the survey last year only	117	-26	-8%
– Filled in the survey this year only	59	141	9%
New incorporations	23	5	-
New captures	151	177	-
Total (2022/23)	1,907	-1813	-9%

Note: All values are in 2022/23 prices and include DTH and non-DTH income.

Source: London Economics analysis

The table above presents the decomposition of income change between 2021/22 and 2022/23, categorising organisations by their status (retained, exited, newly incorporated). A total of 1,733 organisations were included in both years, with an aggregate real income decline of £1,791m. This corresponds to 98.8% of the total year-on-year income decline, which was £1,813. Large companies^{[footnote 16]} account for the majority of this decline, contributing more than two-thirds (-£1,247m). Newly incorporated organisations and newly captured organisations together added £182m to total income, while attritions reduced total sector income by £204m.

15.    Income

Total assessed UK space industry income amounted to £18.6bn in 2022/23. This represents a decrease of £1.8bn (-8.9%) from the inflation-adjusted value found for 2021/22.

Annual level and real growth rate of UK space industry income, 2000-2023

Years	DTH income (£M)	Non-DTH income (£M)	Total income (£M)	Non-DTH growth (CAGR)	Space growth (CAGR)
-	-	-	-	-
2000/01	-	-	5,980	-	-
2009/10	-	-	12,241	-	8.3%
2010/11	8,997*	4,042	13,039	-	6.5%
2011/12	-	-	15,085	-	15.7%
2012/13	10,053*	5,655	15,707	18.3%	4.1%
2013/14	-	-	17,293	-	10.1%
2014/15	9,838*	7,730	17,568	16.9%	1.6%
2015/16	-	-	17,928	-	2.1%
2016/17	8,996	9,743	18,739	12.3%	4.5%
2017/18	-	-	18,779	-	0.2%
2018/19	9,104	10,765	19,870	5.1%	5.8%
2019/20	8,848	10,727	19,575	-0.4%	-1.5%
2020/21	9,545	11,022	20,567	2.8%	5.1%
2021/22	9,493	10,921	20,414	-0.9%	-0.7%
2022/23	8,894	9,707	18,601	-11.1%	-8.9%

Note: All values are in 2022/23 prices. Historical DTH and non-DTH breakdowns are only provided for years where this was reported in previous Size & Health iterations. DTH income marked with an * are estimated using the reported ‘broadcasting’ income breakdown presented in earlier iterations of the Size & Health study. CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate calculated since the previous available estimate.

Source: London Economics

The data suggests that the decline in space industry income in the 2022/23 financial year may be due, in part, to the long-term nature of space projects and contracts signed by space companies. In some cases, contracts are completely fixed in nominal terms, with no provisions for inflationary adjustments; in other cases contracts may include mechanisms to adjust for expected inflation from the outset. High levels of input inflation can erode the real value of contract payments, placing significant financial strain on organisations. As a result, while nominal payments may remain relatively stable, their real value can diminish significantly. Additionally, as long-term contracts reach conclusion, the industry, and its primes in particular, may experience a drop in activity unless replacement contracts are found. Primes rely on a wide range domestic and international suppliers which may also experience the same effect. Additionally, as long-term contracts reach conclusion, the industry, and its primes in particular, may experience a drop in activity unless they manage to find replacement contracts. Primes rely on a wide range of domestic and international suppliers, who may also be impacted by the same effect.

Furthermore, macroeconomic challenges and rising inflation during the 2022/23 period may have impacted B2C and B2B income simultaneously, which both declined compared to 2021/22. On the B2C side, DTH providers, in particular, experienced a real reduction in income likely due to consumers cutting back on subscription services as they struggled with inflation and hence reduced spending where possible. On the B2B side, industries severely affected by inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis represent important customers for space services. As these sectors faced their own financial struggles, they possibly invested less in space technologies and services or postponed the replacement of equipment, than they would have otherwise done, leading to a ripple effect across the space industry supply chain.

The satellite communications capability demonstrated a large decline in 2022/23 due to a combination of geopolitical, economic and competitive pressures. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted satellite deployment schedules - most notably OneWeb cancelling launches originally planned with Russia’s Soyuz rockets and seeking alternative launch providers, leading to delays in service rollouts and revenue generation, while the broader economic climate increased operational costs and likely hindered infrastructure development. The rapid global expansion of LEO broadband constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink intensified competition, impacting UK-based companies across the satellite communications value chain. The disruption in the market from traditional geostationary satellites toward newer LEO constellations is also likely reflected in these figures, as is the impact of declining revenues from direct-to-home broadband via satellite.

Further, the UK-EU withdrawal agreement was made effective in the 2020/21 financial year following the transition period. Contracts for the European Union’s Space Programme began to be awarded to non-UK entities during the transition period, with the final withdrawal date acting as a final cut-off. As such, the loss of access to certain space programmes such as Galileo was not felt immediately as these contracts would likely have been in place in 2021/22.

This is evidenced by numerous survey respondents indicating in the 2023 edition of the Size & Health of the UK Space Industry study that limitations on EU programme involvement was a significant growth barrier for their company. UK organisations lost access to contracts and grants under programmes such as Galileo, Copernicus, and Horizon Europe, cutting off an important source of funding. Although the UK rejoined Copernicus and Horizon Europe in January 2024, many long-term contracts and grants were awarded to EU-based firms during the UK’s absence, making it difficult for UK firms to regain their previous roles in the supply chain. Moreover, the period under analysis (2022/23) reflects a time when UK organisations were still excluded, and the impact of lost access is therefore reflected in the income figures.

Several survey respondents reported an ongoing shortage of skilled candidates, which has restricted company growth, and in some cases, led to lost revenue. Despite these challenges, overall employment in the sector increased.

Further, COVID-19-related lockdown restrictions, may have had a lagged effect on the UK space sector. Although the UK space industry was not as severely impacted as the rest of the economy,^{[footnote 17]} many organisations in the industry supply to sectors that were relatively more affected. Therefore, any changes to business operations in these sectors may have led to reduced incomes for companies involved in the space industry. This is consistent with the observed decline in B2B sales.

Given the decline in income from 2021/22 to 2022/23, survey respondents nonetheless express a generally optimistic outlook for the next three years, with 60% of respondents estimating that their income will be higher over this period^{[footnote 18]}. A key driver of this optimism is increasing engagement with the US market, as several respondents highlight growing interest from American customers and investors. However, many organisations acknowledge that growth depends on securing sufficient funding, and the survey respondents highlight the importance of continued investment and access to capital to support their expansion plans and R&D efforts. In particular, they emphasise the need for sustained UK Space Agency funding and note that investors are looking for clear signals of strong UK government support for the sector, as confidence in the sector is closely tied to public investment.

15.1    Income by segment

Breaking down total industry income by segment reveals that Space Applications dominates, at £13.6bn (73% of total income). This is followed by Space Manufacturing at £2.5bn (13%), Space Operations at £1.9bn (10%), Ancillary Services at £572m (3%), and In-Space Economy at £60m (<1%).

Non-DTH Broadcasting income by segment

Excluding DTH broadcasting, the income of the UK space industry is £9.7bn. As in previous years, the largest contributing segment is Space Applications. Space Applications represented 48% of industry income excluding DTH broadcasting (48% in 2021/22). This is followed by Space Manufacturing representing 25% of income (25% in 2021/22), Space Operations representing 20% (21% in 2021/22), and Ancillary Services with 6% of income (5% in 2021/22). The recently-included In-Space Economy segment represents the smallest share of total industry income at 1% (0.4% in 2021/22).

UK space industry income by segment, 2022/23

Segment	2022/23 (£m)	Share of total income (2022/23)
-	-
Space Applications	4,675	48%
Space Manufacturing	2,467	25%
Space Operations	1,933	20%
Ancillary Services	572	6%
In-space Economy	60	1%
Total	9,708	-

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

Ancillary services exhibited growth over the previous year (3%), with strong growth in the In-Space economy (an increase of 42% from 2021/22), albeit from a smaller base. This expansion in real terms does not compensate for the declines in Space Applications (-11%), Space Manufacturing (-9%), and the significant decline in Space Operations (-17%) over the period.

UK space industry income growth by segment, 2021/22 – 2022/23

Segment	Income 2021/22 (£m)	Income 2022/23 (£m)	Difference in income (£m)	Growth (y-o-y%)
-	-	-	-
Space Applications	5,268	4,675	-593	-11%
Space Manufacturing	2,712	2,467	-245	-9%
Space Operations	2,342	1,933	-409	-17%
Ancillary Services	555	572	17	3%
In-Space Economy	42	60	18	42%
Total	10,920	9,708	-1,212	-11%

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting income by segment

DTH broadcasting represents £8,894m of Space-Applications income, 48% of the total industry income (47% in 2021/22). DTH broadcasting is still dominated by Sky UK, which represents £8.6bn of income, accounting for 96% of total DTH broadcasting income (99% in 2021/22).

15.2    Income by activity

Non-DTH Broadcasting income by activity

The table below shows the breakdown of income by activity. Space Manufacturing is dominated by fundamental and applied research, representing 30% of Space Manufacturing income, and by manufacture of satellites, payloads, spacecraft, and subsystems (26% of segment income).

For Space Operations, the dominant activity is proprietary satellite operation (51% of Space Operations income) and ground station network activity (35% of Space Operation income). The In-Space Economy is mostly dominated by activity related to space resource utilisation which makes up 57% of segment income, although this segment represents a comparatively small share of total industry income of only 1%.

For space applications, the dominant activity is mobile satellite communication services (30%), followed by supply of user devices and equipment (21%), and applications leveraging satellite signals/data (20%). It should be noted that the table below excludes DTH broadcasting, which itself represents £8,894m (66% of total segment income when including DTH broadcasting). Ancillary Services is mostly dominated by software and IT services (33%), and market research and consultancy services (28%).

Comparing space industry income by activity to results from the 2023 Size & Health study shows a substantial decline (in relative and absolute terms) in Space Applications and Space Operations. Specifically, proprietary satellite operation, fixed satellite communication services, and mobile satellite communication services have seen significant declines of 31%, 29%, and 16% respectively. This is consistent with the recent move from large GEO satellites, traditionally a UK strength across manufacturing, operations, and applications, towards LEO, where UK leaders face strong international competition.

UK space industry income by segment and activity, 2022/23

Segment	Activity	2021/22 (£m)	2022/23 (£m)
-	-	-
Space Manufacturing (25%)	Launch vehicles and subsystems	245	199
	Satellites/payloads/spacecraft and subsystems	693	638
	Scientific instruments	128	96
	Ground segment systems and equipment	118	137
	Suppliers of materials and components	505	530
	Scientific and engineering support	123	134
	Fundamental and applied research	900	734
Space Operations (20%)	Launch services	41	24
	Launch brokerage services	0	6
	Proprietary satellite operation	1,416	980
	Third-party ground segment	198	254
	Ground station network	688	670
In-space Economy (1%)	In-orbit servicing	3	5
	In-space manufacturing*	-	-
	Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST)	2	8
	Debris removal	1	8
	Space tourism*	-	-
	Space resource utilisation	21	34
	Other in-space/lunar activities	16	5
Space Applications (48%)	Fixed satellite communication services	1,191	844
	Mobile satellite communication services	1,693	1,425
	Location-based service providers	143	148
	Supply of user devices and equipment	969	967
	Processors of satellite data	340	355
	Applications leveraging satellite signals/data	923	929
	Other	8	7
Ancillary Services (6%)	Launch and satellite insurance (incl. brokerage) services	55	75
	Legal and financial services	22	14
	Software and IT services	212	191
	Market research and consultancy services	147	161
	Business incubation and development	40	46
	Policymaking, regulation and oversight	79	85
Total	All activities	10,921	9,708

Note: * Due to issues regarding statistical disclosure, statistics for ‘space tourism’ and ‘In-space manufacturing’ have been suppressed and moved into ‘Other in-space/lunar activities. The data excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. Totals may not add up due to rounding. All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting income by activity

DTH broadcasting represents £8.9bn of Space-Applications income. This constitutes 66% of total segment income and means Space Applications accounts for 73% of the total space industry income, when including DTH Broadcasting.

15.3    Income by capability / OECD sector

Non-DTH Broadcasting income by capability

UK space industry income can be further broken down by ‘capabilities’, which are defined such that they are directly analogous to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -defined space ‘sectors’. The OECD’s recommended space sectors are less granular than the Size and Health segments and activities. It should be further noted that these are also not analogous to the UK Space Agency’s ‘Priority Capabilities’^{[footnote 19]}, but instead are aligned with previous iterations of the Size and Health study series. This breakdown highlights the general types of space capabilities that UK organisations support with their space-related activities. As such, a strong focus on Broadcasting is evident as observed in previous years. Organisations with capabilities in Defence/Military, Satellite communication (excl. DTH Broadcasting), and Generic technologies/components also account for large shares of income.

Comparing the results by capability to last year’s results shows a decline in the satellite communications capability. This different set of results reinforces the interpretation that UK leaders face strong international competition in the satcoms domain. Furthermore, a year-to-year income decline occurred in the defence and military capability.

UK space industry income by capability/OECD sector, 2022/23

Capability	2021/22 (£m)	2022/23 (£m)	% share (2022/23)
-	-	-
Defence/Military	1,976	1,583	16%
Earth Observation (excl. Meteorology)	800	791	8%
Meteorology	55	66	1%
Positioning, Navigation, Timing (incl. GNSS)	1,182	1,146	12%
Satellite Communications (excl. broadcasting)	4,186	3,531	36%
Broadcasting	742	630	6%
Science	310	296	3%
Space Exploration (incl. ISS, rovers, probes, excl. in-space economy)	56	74	1%
In-space Economy[footnote 20]	59	85	1%
Space Transportation (incl. launch, space-tugs)	144	156	2%
Space technologies (used in multiple systems, e.g. solar)	100	133	1%
Generic technologies / components that enable space capabilities (e.g. AI)	969	869	9%
Other	341	349	4%
Total	10,921	9,708	-

Note: The OECD does not define ‘Defence/Military’ as a sector, though they do suggest the tracking of different types of procurers of space products and services including defence organisations. Multiple previous editions of the Size and Health study have included defence/military as a separate capability: this is retained to show the distinction between civil and military sectors. All values are in 2022/23 prices, and DTH broadcasting income is excluded.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting income by capability

DTH broadcasting represents £8.9bn of income and sits within the ‘broadcasting’ capability. DTH broadcasting involves the sending of signals to receivers, whereas the remaining £630m in the ‘Broadcasting’ capability in the table above includes a wider range of capabilities such as, for example, the manufacture and specialised installation of user equipment (i.e., set-top boxes).

15.4    Income by customer type

Considering total industry income by customer type reveals that B2C is dominant representing £8.9bn of total income (48%). B2B represents the second largest customer type at £6.2bn (34%). Income from defence customers totals £1.8bn of total revenue (10%). The remaining 9% is attributed to Other Civil Government (£668m, 4%), The European Space Agency (£356m, 2%), Research/Science funding bodies (£245m, 1%), Other space agencies (£179m, 1%), and the UK Space Agency (£154m, 1%).

Long-term trends

The total commercial income in the space industry, generated by business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, fell in real terms from an inflation-adjusted £17.0bn in 2021/22 to £15.2bn in 2022/23 (a fall of 10%). B2B income has stayed constant as a share of total industry income at 34% in 2021/22 and 2022/23. At the same time, B2C income has fallen slightly with 2021/22, and 2022/23 values of 49%, and 48% respectively.

Share of UK space income by customer type, 2019/20 – 2022/23

Customer type	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23
-	-	-	-
B2C	51%	50%	49%	48%
B2B	32%	30%	34%	34%
Public sector	17%	20%	17%	18%

Note: This figure includes DTH and non-DTH income.

Source: London Economics

Non-DTH Broadcasting income by customer type

Analysis of income generated by customer type highlights that the UK space industry has a strong commercial focus, as in previous years. 65% of total income is commercial, comprised of sales to consumers (‘Business to Consumers’, or B2C) (7%) and sales to other businesses (‘Business to Business, or B2B) (58%). Aside from commercial dealings, Defence and Military customers make up another 19% of UK space industry income. Combining all government customers and funding sources (including space agencies) the UK space industry only generates around one-third (35%) of its income from the public sector.

UK space industry income by customer type, 2022/23

Customer type	2021/22 (£m)	2022/23 (£m)	Share of total income (2022/23)
-	-	-
Consumer (B2C)	805	635	7%
Business (B2B)	6,486	5,658	58%
Defence/Military	1,931	1,816	19%
Other Civil Government	664	663	7%
European Space Agency (ESA)	390	356	4%
Research/Science Funding Body	241	245	3%
Other Space Agency	186	179	2%
UK Space Agency	138	154	2%
European Commission (EC)	79	-	-
Total	10,921	9,708	-

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. Grant funding is considered within the ‘customer type’ that supplied the funding. European Commission was not asked in this years’ survey, hence, any remaining customer type allocation has been added to ‘Other Civil Government’. All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

It should be noted that the label defence/military, although present in both the breakdown by capability/OECD sector, and by customer type, are defined differently. Defence/military capability refers to the properties of the good or service while defence/military customer is agnostic to the properties of what is being sold and only considers the identity of the customer. While ESA represents 4% of the total income, it is worth noting that all that income originates from the UK budget and is allocated to ESA through the UK Space Agency.

DTH Broadcasting income by customer type

Breaking down the £8.9bn of income related to DTH Broadcasting by customer type, consumer (B2C) is the largest, with £8.3bn of income (93% of total DTH income), followed by Business (B2B) with £583m (7% of total DTH income).

15.5    Income by income band

Considering total income by band, £12.9bn (69%) is represented by companies with over £100m in space-related revenue. The second highest band at £3.3bn (18%) of total space-related revenue is represented by companies with revenues between £5m-£50m, with companies earning less than £5m of space related revenue correspond to the third highest band, at £1.4bn (8%) of total space-related revenue. The £50m-£100m band has the lowest attributable space-related revenue at £992m (5%).

The real-terms decline in total income from £20.4bn in 2021/22 to £18.6bn in 2022/23 could be, in part, due to the concentrated nature of the UK space industry which means that the primes play a significant role in driving overall income changes. These companies secure major government contracts but when such contracts conclude or move beyond their peak production phases, the absence of immediate follow-on contracts leads to a significant decline in income. This affects both the primes and their supply chains.

Non-DTH Broadcasting income by income band

There was a broad-based real-terms decline in non-DTH Broadcasting income in the UK space industry amongst organisations. Mid-sized companies performed the strongest, with year-on-year income increasing among companies earning £50m-100m by 6%. Amongst the largest of the UK space industry companies, there was a significant decrease in real-terms incomes of 22%. Compared with last year’s results, one organisation has migrated from the >£100m group to the £50m-£100m group, while all other larger companies remain (note that Sky UK’s figures are not presented in the table, but the company remains in the >£100m group). Similarly, the income of companies earning between £5m-£50m declined by 1% in real terms. Income for the smallest organisations, those earning less than £5m of space-related income, declined by 3%.

The decline in non-DTH-related income amongst large companies is likely to be a result of numerous compounding factors, including COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and the implementation of the UK-EU withdrawal agreement limiting involvement in EU space programmes such as Galileo. Due to the long-term nature of contracts, especially for larger organisations, this will have a lagged impact, hence the observed real decline in space-related income in 2022/23. Further, the decline in revenues amongst larger companies is related to the observed decline in the income of companies earning below £50 million per year. The supply chains for large companies are likely to involve smaller UK space companies; hence, if larger companies are seeing a decline in their revenues, this will, in turn, lead to smaller companies observing a decline in their respective revenues as well.

UK space industry income by space income band, 2021/22 - 2022/23

Non-DTH space income band	Non-DTH space income (2021/22) (£m)	Non-DTH space income (2022/23) (£m)	Growth (y-o-y%)	Number of organisations (2022/23)
-	-	-	-
Less than £5M	1,417	1,374	-3%	1,638
£5M-£50M	3,323	3,278	-1%	233
£50M-£100M	843	896	6%	13
>£100M	5,337	4,160	-22%	11
Total	10,921	9,708	-11%	1,895

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. The income bands are provided in current prices (and unchanged). The income by band has been inflated to 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting income by space income band

DTH broadcasting is dominated by Sky UK, which represents £8,545m of income, accounting for 96% of total DTH broadcasting income (99% in 2021/22). This means the ‘>£100m’ income band represents 98% of total DTH broadcasting income, with ‘£50m-£100m’ representing a further 1% of total DTH income.

16.    Exports

16.1    Income by customer location

In terms of customer location, the share of industry income that is attributable to customers based in the UK is £13.1bn (69%). £5.8bn is exported (31%) with customers from the EU representing the largest export destination at £2.4bn (13% of total income), followed by customers from North America at £1.3bn (8%), and Central and South America at £861m (4%).

Long-term trends

To understand how exports have changed over time, we can compare the shares from 2016/17 and 2022/23 (see the table below).  Exports have decreased as a proportion of total income from 37% in 2016/17 to 31% in 2022/23. Customers located in Europe account for a large share of this reduction, with the share of total income falling from 20% in 2016/17 to 13% in 2022/23. In 2016/17, income from contracts relating to Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, or the European Commission represented over 2.5% of total UK space industry income. This result is consistent with expectations given that 2016/17 straddles the EU independence referendum, so although the UK voted to leave the EU, no immediate impact was felt on contracts directly with the European Union’s Space Programme or any other supplies into the single market.

Northern America exhibited growth from 6% to 8% over the two study periods, whereas Asia & Oceania exhibited a decline from 5% in 2016/17 to 4% in 2022/23. Customers located in the Middle East & Northern Africa accounted for the same share of income in 2016/17 and 2022/23 (2%), along with customers from the Rest of Africa (1%). Customers from Central & South America saw an increase from 3% in 2016/17 to 4% in 2022/23. The share of customers based in the UK has increased from 63% in 2016/17 to 69% in 2022/23.

Income by customer location, 2016/17 - 2022/23

Customer location	2016/17	2022/23
-	-
UK	63%	69%
Rest of Europe	20%	13%
Northern America	6%	8%
Asia & Oceania	5%	4%
Middle East & Northern Africa	2%	2%
Rest of Africa	1%	<1%
Central & South America	3%	4%

Note: This figure includes DTH and non-DTH income.

Source: London Economics

Non-DTH income by customer location

The UK space industry generated over 57% (£5.5bn) of its total income from abroad (58% in 2021/22). Breaking this down based on location, it is clear that the UK is the primary market for the UK space industry. The total income generated from UK customers is equal to £4.2bn in 2022/23, almost double the total income generated from the rest of Europe (£2.3bn), and almost triple Northern America (£1.4bn). The real terms year-on-year increase of exports to the rest of Europe (15%) indicates that UK companies have rebounded from a UK-EU withdrawal induced reduction in last year’s statistics, but as seen in the table above, scope to rebound further remains.

UK space industry income by customer location

Location	2021/22 (£m)	2022/23 (£m)	Share of exports	Share of total income
-	-	-	-
UK	4,634	4,188	-	43%
Exports	6,287	5,520	100%	57%
Rest of Europe	1,982	2,282	41%	24%
Northern America	1,661	1,402	25%	14%
Central & South America	1,108	730	13%	8%
Asia & Oceania	848	660	12%	7%
Middle East & Northern Africa	366	308	6%	3%
Rest of Africa	321	139	3%	1%
Total income	10,921	9,708	-	-

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. All values in 2022/23 values.

Source: London Economics

Exports as a share of industry income (excluding DTH broadcasting) can be compared to the wider UK economy. The value of total exports from the UK in 2022 was £781.2bn^{[footnote 21]}, with the UK total output in 2022 being £4,548bn^{[footnote 22]}. This implies a 17% export share of total output for the wider UK economy, which is significantly lower than the 57% share for the UK space industry.

DTH Broadcasting income by customer location

In terms of customer location, most companies engaging in DTH broadcasting have their customers located in the UK, representing £8,604m of income (97% of total income). This is followed by customers located in the rest of Europe £183m (2% of total).

17.    Gross Value-Added (GVA)

Gross Value Added (GVA) describes the economic value that an organisation adds to its products or services before offering them to customers. In this case, it is approximately equal to the value of sales net of the cost of intermediate inputs and raw materials. It estimates an industry’s direct contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The UK space industry contributed an estimated £7,162m of GVA to the UK economy, a reduction of £585m (-7.5%). This result implies a small nominal increase in GVA, but due to inflation in the 2022/23 financial year, GVA has fallen slightly less than income in real terms, implying that the space industry has been able to add slightly more value to the economy per pound of income than in 2021/22. The space industry contributed an estimated 0.30% of the total UK Gross Domestic Product^{[footnote 23]} in 2022/23 (0.33% in 2021/22).

UK space industry Gross Value Added, 2009/10 – 2022/23

Year	GVA (£m)	Growth (y-o-y%)
-	-
2009/10	5,566	-
2010/11	5,861	0.6%
2011/12	6,254	6.7%
2012/13	6,687	6.9%
2013/14	6,504	-2.7%
2014/15	6,580	1.2%
2015/16	6,733	2.3%
2016/17	7,175	6.6%
2017/18	7,932	10.5%
2018/19	8,106	2.2%
2019/20	8,120	0.2%
2020/21	8,261	1.7%
2021/22	7,747	-6.2%
2022/23	7,162	-7.5%

Note: All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics; Know.Space (2022) ‘Size and Health of the UK space industry 2022’

17.1    Gross Value-Added by segment

Non-DTH Broadcasting GVA by segment

The majority of the UK space industry GVA is generated in the Space Applications segment (51%); slightly more than the 48% of income accounted for by the segment. At 26%, Space Manufacturing also accounts for a slightly larger share of GVA than it does income. Ancillary services equal their income share (6%) to deliver 6% of the total GVA generated.

UK space industry Gross Value-Added by segment

Activity	GVA 2021/22 (£m)	GVA 2022/23 (£m)	Share of total
-	-	-
Space Applications	2,463	2,263	51%
Space Manufacturing	1,314	1,159	26%
Space Operations	903	744	17%
Ancillary services	258	265	6%
In-space economy	26	35	1%
Total	4,965	4,466	-

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. All values in 2022/23 prices. GVA estimate based on 1,906 companies.

Source: London Economics

The drivers of the real-terms reductions in GVA are primarily the same as those elaborated in the ‘income’ section above, as income is the main determining factor of GVA, although segment-specific factors may explain why GVA has not reduced as much as income. For example, that Space Manufacturing and Operations have fallen the most in relative terms may be a consequence of higher input costs on intermediate inputs (as well as income reductions). Conversely, Ancillary Services predominantly depend on human capital, hence, cost increases on salaries are retained as GVA to a greater extent. Space Applications and In-Space Economy both include manufacturing activities based on intermediate inputs and more human-capital intensive activities and hence the same line of argumentation is more ambiguous.

DTH Broadcasting GVA by segment

In terms of GVA, DTH broadcasting contributes £2,636m to the UK economy, 38% of total industry GVA (36% in 2021/22).

17.2    Gross Value-Added by activity

Non-DTH Broadcasting GVA by activity

The table below shows the breakdown of GVA by activity. Space Manufacturing is dominated by fundamental and applied research, representing 34% of Space Manufacturing GVA, and by manufacture of satellites, payloads, spacecraft, and subsystems (28% of segment GVA).

For Space Operations, the dominant activity is proprietary satellite operation (51% of segment GVA) and ground station network activity (30% of Space Operation GVA). For In-Space economy, the dominant activity is space resource utilisation (57% of segment GVA), and space surveillance and tracking (18% of segment GVA).

For space applications, the dominant activity is mobile satellite communication services (34%), applications leveraging satellite signals/data (20%), and fixed satellite communication services (19%). It should be noted that the table below excludes DTH Broadcasting, which itself represents £2,697m of GVA (54% of total segment GVA when including DTH broadcasting). Ancillary Services is mostly dominated by software and IT services (29%), and market research and consultancy services (25%). The drivers of the real-terms reductions in GVA are the same as those elaborated in ‘income’ section above, as income is a key determining factor of GVA.

UK space industry Gross Value-Added by activity, 2022/23

Segment	Activity	2021/22 (£m)	2022/23 (£m)
-	-	-
Space Manufacturing (26%)	Launch vehicles and subsystems	104	86
	Satellites/payloads/spacecraft and subsystems	336	322
	Scientific instruments	68	43
	Ground segment systems and equipment	50	57
	Suppliers of materials and components	199	200
	Scientific and engineering support	49	54
	Fundamental and applied research	508	397
Space Operations (17%)	Launch services	20	7
	Launch brokerage services	0	2
	Proprietary satellite operation	558	377
	Third party ground segment	95	133
	Ground station network	231	224
In-space Economy (1%)	In-orbit servicing	2	3
	In-space manufacturing*	7	-
	Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST)	1	6
	Debris removal	1	4
	Space tourism*	0	-
	Space resource utilization	13	20
	Other in-space/lunar activities	2	2
Space Applications (51%)	Fixed satellite communication services	557	438
	Mobile satellite communication services	886	767
	Location-based service providers	71	75
	Supply of user devices and equipment	372	399
	Processors of satellite data	111	127
	Applications leveraging satellite signals/data	463	451
	Other	3	5
Ancillary Services (6%)	Launch and satellite insurance (incl. brokerage) services	30	42
	Legal and financial services	11	8
	Software and IT services	88	76
	Market research and consultancy services	62	66
	Business incubation and development	21	23
	Policymaking, regulation, and oversight	47	50
Total	All activities	4,965	4,466

Note: * Due to issues regarding statistical disclosure, statistics for ‘space tourism’ and ‘In-space manufacturing’ have been suppressed, and moved into ‘other in-space/lunar activities’. This excludes DTH broadcasting which is reported separately. All values in 2022/23 prices. Totals may not sum due to rounding. GVA estimate based on 1,906 companies.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting GVA by activity

DTH broadcasting represents £2,697m of Space-Applications GVA. This constitutes 54% of total segment GVA and means Space Applications accounts for 69% of the total space industry GVA, when including DTH Broadcasting.

18.    Employment

Direct employment in the UK space industry was 55,549 Full Time Equivalents (FTE)s in 2022/23, representing an increase of 3,521 (+7%) compared to 2021/22. The single largest employer in the space industry is Sky UK, with an estimated 37% of the sector’s employees. In 2022/23 the space industry employed approximately 0.17% of the total UK workforce.

UK space industry employment, 2000/01 – 2022/23

Year	Employees	Growth (y-o-y%)	UK economy employees	Space industry share of workforce
-	-	-	-
2000/01	15,256	-	27,588,978	0.06%
2009/10	28,995	10.0%	29,077,302	0.10%
2010/11	28,942	-0.2%	29,367,764	0.10%
2011/12	32,024	10.6%	29,413,194	0.11%
2012/13	33,882	5.8%	29,858,152	0.11%
2013/14	37,391	10.4%	30,391,971	0.12%
2014/15	38,522	3.0%	31,005,879	0.12%
2015/16	41,690	8.2%	31,529,130	0.13%
2016/17	41,929	0.6%	31,936,964	0.13%
2017/18	44,052	5.1%	32,287,650	0.14%
2018/19	44,040	0.0%	32,675,743	0.13%
2019/20	46,995	6.7%	32,925,680	0.14%
2020/21	48,772	3.8%	32,387,252	0.15%
2021/22	52,028	6.7%	32,742,946	0.16%
2022/23	55,549	6.8%	33,145,891	0.17%

Note: The statistics presented using ONS Labour Force Survey data are the averages between the months of April in each respective year. E.g., 2021/22 will be the average of all statistics between April 2021 and April 2022.

Source: London Economics; Know.Space (2022) ‘Size and Health of the UK space industry 2022’; Office for National Statistics^{[footnote 24]}

The increase in employment despite nominal stagnation (and real-terms reduction) in income should be considered through the lens of the average qualification level of the industry (see section 2.9 for more details). On average, survey responses indicate that a smaller proportion of employees in the space industry hold university-level or vocational training relative to previous survey waves. This finding might explain why the number of employees needed to generate comparable nominal income has increased over time. Given barriers to the European labour market following the UK-EU withdrawal, the space industry may have needed to define new roles that cater to a smaller pool of domestic applicants in a highly competitive labour market. An additional explanation could be that as organisations mature, there is an increasing need for corporate support functions which increase employment at a faster rate than revenues.

Another potential explanation for the steady increase in employment despite the nominal stagnation in income is that out of 174 newly captured organisations, almost one-third (54) are pre-revenue. While 96 organisations in the entire sample are pre-revenue, adding 190 employees to the total employment figure, 50 of those are added by newly captured pre-revenue organisations^{[footnote 25]}.

18.1    Employment by segment

Breaking down total industry employment by segment reveals that Space Applications dominates, at 34,076 employees (61% of total employment). This is followed by Space Manufacturing at 12,489 (22%), Space Operations at 5,494 (10%), Ancillary Services at 3,139 (6%), and In-Space Economy at 352 (<1%).

Non-DTH Broadcasting employment by segment

The segment with the highest proportion of space-related employees is Space Applications with 37% of the total (40% in 2021/22). Space Manufacturing represented the segment with the second highest employment with 37% of the total (35% in 2021/22). This is followed by Space Operations at 16% of the total (16% in 2021/22), Ancillary Services at 9% (8% in 2021/22), while the emerging In-Space Economy segment employs just 1% of the industry total (1% in 2021/22).

UK space industry employment by segment

Segment	Employees (2020/21)	Employees (2021/22)	Employees (2022/23)	Percentage change (2020/21 - 2021/22)	Percentage change (2021/22 - 2022/23)
-	-	-	-	-
Space Applications	10,866	12,367	12,708	14%	3%
Space Manufacturing	9,490	10,586	12,489	12%	18%
Space Operations	2,947	4,914	5,494	67%	12%
Ancillary services	3,234	2,500	3,139	-23%	26%
In-space economy	291	201	352	-31%	75%
Total	26,828	30,568	34,181	14%	12%

Note: This excludes DTH broadcasting employment which is reported separately.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting employment by segment

In terms of employment, DTH broadcasting accounts for 21,368 space industry employees, representing 38% of total sector employment.

18.2    Employment by activity

The table below shows the breakdown of employment by activity. Space Manufacturing is dominated by fundamental and applied research, representing 26% of Space Manufacturing employment, and by manufacture of satellites, payloads, spacecraft, and subsystems (24% of segment employment).

For Space Operations, the dominant activities are proprietary satellite operation (38% of Space Operations employment) and ground station network activity (32%). The In-Space Economy is mostly dominated by activity related to space resource utilisation (29% of segment employment), although makes up a comparatively small share of total industry employment of only 0.1%.

For space applications, the dominant activity is applications leveraging satellite signals/data (33%), supply of user devices and equipment (29%), and processors of satellite data (15%). It should be noted that the table below excludes DTH Broadcasting, which itself represents 21,368 employees (63% of total segment employment when including DTH broadcasting). Ancillary Services is mostly dominated by market research and consultancy services (37%) and software and IT services (32%).

UK space industry employment by activity

Segment	Activity	2021/22	2022/23
-	-	-
Space Manufacturing (37%)	Launch vehicles and subsystems	964	1,216
	Satellites/payloads/spacecraft and subsystems	2,705	2,988
	Scientific instruments	627	705
	Ground segment systems and equipment	588	684
	Suppliers of materials and components	2,191	2,865
	Scientific and engineering support	490	764
	Fundamental and applied research	2,934	3,267
Space Operations (16%)	Launch services	192	146
	Launch brokerage services	2	30
	Proprietary satellite operation	2,227	2,105
	Third-party ground segment	753	1,472
	Ground station network	1,700	1,741
In-space economy (1%)	In-orbit servicing	9	35
	In-space manufacturing*	-	-
	Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST)	17	91
	Debris removal	20	96
	Space tourism*	-	-
	Space resource utilization	96	101
	Other in-space/lunar activities	58	29
Space Applications (37%)	Fixed satellite communication services	1,008	650
	Mobile satellite communication services	1,443	1,574
	Location-based service providers	616	639
	Supply of user devices and equipment	3,770	3,663
	Processors of satellite data	1,557	1,927
	Applications leveraging satellite signals/data	3,805	4,192
	Other	58	62
Ancillary services (9%)	Launch and satellite insurance (incl. brokerage) services	101	141
	Legal and financial services	177	75
	Software and IT services	866	997
	Market research and consultancy services	707	1,146
	Business incubation and development	150	235
	Policymaking, regulation and oversight	462	545
Total	All activities	30,291	34,181

Note: * Due to issues regarding statistical disclosure, statistics for ‘space tourism’ and ‘In-space manufacturing’ have been suppressed, and moved into ‘other in-space/lunar activities’.

Source: London Economics

DTH Broadcasting employment by activity

DTH broadcasting employs 21,368 of Space-Applications related employees. This constitutes 63% of total segment employment and means Space Applications accounts for 61% of the total space industry employees, when including DTH Broadcasting.

19.    Productivity

The labour productivity (GVA per employee) for the UK space industry in 2022/23 is estimated at £128,939 (the inflation-adjusted value was £148,908 in 2021/22). This is twice the UK’s average labour productivity (£61,729)^{[footnote 26] [footnote 27]}. This high level of labour productivity reflects the highly skilled workforce of the UK space industry. The present-year figures represent a continuation of decline in labour productivity in the UK space industry over the past few years.

UK space industry labour productivity, 2018/19 – 2022/23

Year	Space industry GVA per employee (£)	UK economy GVA per employee (£)
-	-
2018/19	183,601	60,451
2019/20	173,008	60,877
2020/21	169,477	55,337
2021/22	148,908	60,268
2022/23	128,939	61,729

Note: All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics; Know.Space (2022) ‘Size and Health of the UK space industry 2022’

Labour productivity is the ratio of GVA to number of employees. As GVA has grown marginally in nominal terms and reduced in real terms, approximately half the reduction of labour productivity is attributable to the stagnating GVA ^{[footnote 28]}. The other half is due to the increase in employment ^{[footnote 29]} (the ‘employment’ section discusses the changes in sector employment over time).

20.    Inputs

Based on survey responses, an estimated 46% of the industry’s inputs are imported from suppliers overseas (52% in 2021/22). Inputs from UK suppliers are split around 6:1 between space sector companies and non-space sector companies. The estimated aggregate spend on inputs in the UK space industry is £11.4bn for 2022/23 (2021/22: £12.3bn in current prices).

UK space industry inputs by supplier type

Survey	2020/21 (£m)	2021/22 (£m)	2022/23 (£m)	2022/23 (share of total)
-	-	-	-
UK-based	5,280	5,901	6,198	54%
- UK Space	3,099	3,940	5,361	47%
- UK non-space	2,181	1,961	837	7%
Overseas (imports)	7,025	6,418	5,240	46%
Total	12,306	12,319	11,439	-

Note: Shares are purely based on non-representative and voluntary survey respondents, extrapolated to the full UK space industry, hence, susceptible to change due to the survey population. Results should be interpreted with caution. All values are in 2022/23 prices.

Source: London Economics

21.    Research and Development (R&D)

Investment into Research & Development (R&D) is a key leading indicator of a sector’s future economic performance. By investing today, companies ensure an ongoing pipeline of product and service improvements that leverage new knowledge, products, and processes. Each of these can also continue to support competitive advantage within the international space industry and within the UK economy as a whole.

An estimated £1,052m was spent on space-related R&D (equivalent to 5.7% of total industry income) in 2022/23. This is an increase from 2021/22 (5.1%) and 2020/21 (4.5%). External R&D^{[footnote 30]} fell compared to last year, from £549m (57% of the total) in 2021/22 to £510m (48% of the total) in 2022/23. Internal investment accounted for £543m (52% of the total) in 2022/23.

The equivalent of 14.7% of direct space industry GVA was invested in R&D (13.5% in 2021/22, 11% in 2020/21). This means that the UK space industry’s R&D as a share of GVA is more than 6 times the UK average of 2.21%^{[footnote 31]},^{[footnote 32]}.

Research and Development spending in the UK space industry over time

Year	R&D intensity	Internal share	External share	% of direct GVA
-	-	-	-
2018/19	4.3%	48%	52%	10.7%
2019/20	5.0%	36%	64%	12%
2020/21	4.5%	49%	51%	11%
2021/22	5.1%	43%	57%	13.5%
2022/23	5.7%	52%	48%	14.7%

Source: London Economics’ analysis of survey data and overall sample; historical Size and Health studies

22.    Qualifications and training

Respondents to the Size and Health survey were asked to provide a breakdown of their employees based on the highest educational qualification that they attained. The table below provides a full breakdown of the results. The results from responding space-sector companies indicates a highly educated workforce, with the majority of space-related employees amongst respondents (69%) having either a bachelor’s degree, or a master’s degree or higher. More specifically, the highest attained qualification was a master’s degree (or higher) with 43% of space-related employees amongst respondents having attained one, followed by bachelor’s degrees (26%). 8% of space-related employees amongst respondents had attained a “vocational qualification”, with the remaining 22% achieving an “other qualification”. 78% of respondents’ employees attained a level 4 or higher qualification, which is the second highest proportion amongst all industries in the UK^{[footnote 33]},^{[footnote 34]}.

Space-related employees by highest educational qualification

Qualification	Space related employees	Percentage of total
-	-
Master’s degree or above (incl. PhD)	982	43%
Bachelor’s degree	593	26%
Vocational qualification (HND/HNC)	192	8%
Other qualification	504	22%
Total	2,272	-

Note: Based on 80 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

Note that these statistics are fully based on voluntary responses to the Size and Health survey, and as such cannot be expected to be representative of the industry as a whole. Nevertheless, the current year’s survey indicates a significant shift from university and formal vocational training towards ‘other’ qualifications.

Qualifications and skills over time

Qualification	Share 2024	Share 2023	Share 2022	Share 2020	Share 2018
-	-	-	-	-
Bachelor, Master’s or PhD	69%	80%	77%	73%	75%
Vocational qualification (HND/HNC)	8%	11%	14%	14%	13%
Other qualification	22%	9%	9%	13%	11%

Note: Based on voluntary responses to Size and Health survey. The sample is different for each year and data should therefore be only considered indicative of a trend. Values mat not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Source: London Economics, Know.Space

This finding could be an indication that access to skills, cited as a barrier to growth among current survey respondents (see the ‘barriers to growth’ section), as well as historical iterations of the report, might start to translate into a different skills composition within the industry. The proportion of survey respondents citing recruitment or human resource challenges as barriers to growth is presented below for a selection of previous reports.

Skills-related barriers to growth over time

Skills-related barriers to growth	Share 2024	Share 2023	Share 2022	Share 2020	Share 2018
-	-	-	-	-
Human capital constraints	25%	-	-	-
Recruiting staff	-	41%	46%	28%	39%
Shortage of managerial skills/expertise	-	17%	12%	13%	-

Note: Based on voluntary responses to Size and Health survey. The sample is different for each year and data should therefore be only considered indicative of a trend.

Source: London Economics, Know.Space

In combination, the current year’s survey responses indicate that access to skills is a major barrier to growth in the industry, and that recent recruitment has seen a shift from the traditional university-educated core of the industry workforce.

23.    Workforce composition

In terms of the composition of the workforce by nationality, the vast majority of space-related employees amongst survey respondents were UK nationals, making up 83% of the total workforce. EU nationals make up a smaller proportion of the workforce, representing 9% of space-related employees amongst survey respondents, and the remaining 7% of space-related employees amongst survey respondents were from other nationalities. Compared to the proportion of payrolled employees in the UK as of December 2023^{[footnote 35]}, UK employees are slightly underrepresented (83% compared to the national average of 81%), EU nationals are slightly overrepresented (9% compared to 7%), and non-EU nationals are underrepresented (7% compared to 11%).

Space-related employees by nationality

Nationality	Space related employees	Percentage of total
-	-
UK nationals	1,657	83%
EU nationals	179	9%
Other nationals	149	7%
Total	1,985	-

Note: Based on 83 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

Respondents were also asked to provide a breakdown of their space-related employees by age. The age brackets with the fewest space-related employees amongst survey respondents were “over 64” (3%), and “under 25” (9%). The age bracket with the most space-related employees amongst survey respondents was “50-64” (36%), followed by 35-49 (30%), and 25-34 (21%). The relatively low proportion of “under 25” space-related employees is unsurprising given the relatively high proportion of master’s graduates working in the space sector in the UK amongst responding companies.

Space-related employees by age

Age bracket	Space-related employees	Percentage of total
-	-
Under 25	364	9%
25-34	850	21%
35-49	1,229	30%
50-64	1,470	36%
Over 64	135	3%
Total	4,047	-

Note: Based on 81 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

In terms of the gender breakdown of the UK space sector, the majority of space related employees amongst survey respondents are male (77%), with the remaining 23% being female. Compared to the whole UK labour force, men are overrepresented (52% for the entire UK labour force), and women are underrepresented (48%)^{[footnote 36]}. Due to factors such as differing sampling representation, these figures from Size and Health inevitably differ from those calculated from other sources; for example, the Space Census is typically completed by younger employees who, in turn, are more likely to be female.

Space-related employees by gender

Gender	Space-related employees	Percentage of total
-	-
Male	3,582	77%
Female	1,081	23%
Other (incl. non-binary)	-	-
Prefer not to say	-	-
Total	4,663	-

Note: Based on 83 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding. Statistics for “other” and “prefer not to say” have been suppressed due to concerns regarding statistical disclosure.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

Amongst survey respondents, the proportions of various ethnic groups are broadly consistent with figures from the 2021 census for England and Wales^{[footnote 37]}. White ethnic groups made up the largest proportion of space-related employees amongst survey respondents at 88% (compared to 82% from the census), with Asian or Asian British representing the second most prevalent ethnic group at 8% of the sample (9% in the census). Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African were slightly underrepresented at 2% (4% in the census). Mixed ethnic groups were also slightly underrepresented at 2% (3% in the census). It is important to note that the differences between the survey results and the census are likely to be driven by the composition of the sample who chose to answer this particular question.

Space-related employees by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Space-related employees	Percentage of total
-	-
White	882	88%
Asian or Asian British	84	8%
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups	22	2%
Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African	16	2%
Other	-	-
Total	1,004	-

Note: Based on 71 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding. The statistic for “other” has been suppressed due to concerns regarding statistical disclosure.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

24.    Investment in the UK space industry

25.    External investment

To analyse external investment into the UK space industry in 2024, we utilised data from Crunchbase^{[footnote 38]}. This analysis examined the types, volume, and sources of investments to map the UK space investment landscape. We identified 92 investments into 85 UK-based space organisations^{[footnote 39]}.

25.1    Overview of investments into the UK space industry

Total investment into the UK space industry in 2024 reached £481m across 92 investments^{[footnote 40]}. The table below shows the breakdown of the types of investments by frequency and value in 2024, respectively, while the table below presents the underlying data. Grants and prizes accounted for the largest number of deals (51) and represented 44% (£211m) of the total volume, followed by Venture Capital (VC), which made up 43% (£206m). The prominence of grants in these figures is driven by grants awarded to universities engaged in space-related activities, which comprised 27 grants totalling £182m^{[footnote 41] [footnote 42]}.

Investment (frequency and value) into the UK space industry, 2024

Type	Number of investments	Share of investment deals	Total investment received (£m)	Share of investment value
-	-
Acquisitions	6	7%	12.45	3%
Angel & Seed Funding	10	11%	4.82	1%
Corporate Rounds	0	-	0.00	-
Crowdfunding	0	-	0.00	-
Debt and Equity Financing	4	4%	16.01	3%
Grant/Prize	51	55%	210.57	44%
Private Equity	5	6%	30.97	6%
Venture Capital	15	16%	206.08	43%
Other Investment	1	1%	0.00	-
Total	92	100%	480.90	100%

Note: All values are in current prices.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Crunchbase data

A total of 96 investors were identified in 2024, representing a 17% decline compared to 2023 (see the table below). This reduction was driven by a 28% decrease in the number of private investors, which fell from 93 to 67. In 2023, more deals involving multiple (private) investors took place, including six deals with more than five investors. In contrast, no such deals with more than five investors occurred in 2024. Despite this decline, 2024 still recorded the second-highest number of investors over the period 2014-2024.

Population of investors 2014-2024

Year	Private	Non-Private	Unknown	Total
-	-	-
2014	21	4	2	27
2015	63	3	3	69
2016	46	10	3	59
2017	10	12	5	27
2018	61	7	9	77
2019	46	8	10	64
2020	46	17	6	69
2021	51	0	0	51
2022	59	7	0	66
2023	93	18	4	115
2024	67	22	7	96

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Crunchbase data

The cumulative number of deals in the UK space industry reached 450 over the past decade, with 2024 recording the highest number of investments (92) (see the table below). The number of investments rose from 70 in 2023 to 92 in 2024, representing a 31% increase.

Number of investments, 2014-2024

Year	Number of deals (UK)	Cumulative sum of deals
-	-
2014	19	19
2015	31	50
2016	30	80
2017	34	114
2018	41	155
2019	42	197
2020	39	236
2021	18	254
2022	34	288
2023	70	358
2024	92	450

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Crunchbase data

The table below presents the value of investment into the UK space industry, broken down by type of investment and by year. Cumulative investments in the UK space industry since 2014 reached £19.74bn. In 2024, total investment fell to its lowest level since 2018. This was driven by a considerably lower value of acquisitions (£12m) than in previous years. Acquisitions in 2020, 2022, and 2023 amounted to £4.0bn, £0.5bn, and £8.5bn, respectively. More specifically, 2023 was driven by two ‘mega deals‘: Viasat’s £5.9bn acquisition of Inmarsat and the Eutelsat-OneWeb merger worth £2.8bn. By contrast, no such mega deals took place in 2024. While the 2024 total may initially appear low, excluding ‘mega deals‘ over £100m reveals that 2024 was the highest investment year of the past decade.

Total value of investment into the UK space industry by type and year, 2014-2024 (in £ bn)

Investment type	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
All other investment types	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.02	0.10	0.01	0.06	0.22
Private Equity	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.11	0.05	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03
Corporate Rounds	0.00	0.00	0.89	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Debt and Equity Financing	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	1.34	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.02
Acquisitions	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	4.00	0.00	0.47	8.58	0.01
Venture Capital	0.01	0.42	0.05	0.03	0.12	1.09	0.16	1.34	0.15	0.17	0.21
Total	0.01	0.42	0.94	0.15	0.18	2.44	4.19	1.44	0.64	8.85	0.48

Note: All values are in current prices.

Source: London Economics’ analysis using Crunchbase data; Know Space (2022) ‘Size and Health of the UK space industry 2022’

Total invested (deals <£100m only), (£bn) 2014-2024

Investment type	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Angel & Seed Funding	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.05	0.01
Private Equity	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.10	0.05	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03
Corporate Rounds	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Debt and Equity Financing	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.02
Acquisitions	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.02	0.03	0.01
Venture Capital	0.01	0.05	0.05	0.03	0.12	0.05	0.16	0.07	0.15	0.17	0.21
Grant/Prize	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.21
Crowdfunding	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00
Other Investment	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.08	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total	0.01	0.05	0.05	0.15	0.18	0.11	0.19	0.18	0.19	0.30	0.48

Note: Deals worth over £100 million have been excluded in this figure. All values are in current prices.

Source: London Economics’ analysis using Crunchbase data; Know Space (2022) ‘Size and Health of the UK space industry 2022’

The table below provides an overview of the number of investments broken down by the type of investment, and by year. In 2024, both private equity deals and grants and prizes reached their highest level in a decade, totalling 5 and 51, respectively. The number of VC deals (15) and acquisitions (6) remained unchanged from 2023. While the value of VC deals was broadly similar in both years (£0.17bn in 2023, compared to £0.21bn in 2024), the value of acquisitions differed considerably (£8.6bn in 2023 compared to £0.01bn in 2024).

A closer look at this table reveals that the number of deals has steadily increased over the past decade, from 19 in 2014 to 92 in 2024. A notable dip in 2021 was likely driven by the COVID-19-related lockdown restrictions leading to a temporary reluctance of investors investing in the UK space industry. In contrast, the value of investments has not followed a consistent upward trend but has instead experienced volatility. As explained above, ‘mega deals‘ significantly influence annual investment volumes.

Number of investments by type and year, 2014-2024

Investment type	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other Investment	4	3	0	2	0	1	0	1	2	0	1
Private Equity	0	3	1	2	2	1	1	0	0	0	5
Corporate Rounds	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	0
Debt and Equity Financing	1	1	1	0	1	4	2	0	0	6	4
Acquisitions	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	6	6
Venture Capital	13	18	15	21	25	27	24	17	19	15	15
Grant/Prize	1	4	12	8	11	7	7	0	4	25	51
Crowdfunding	0	2	0	1	1	2	4	0	2	0	0
Angel & Seed Funding	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	10
Total	19	31	30	34	41	42	39	18	34	70	92

Source: London Economics’ analysis using Crunchbase data; Know Space (2022) ‘Size and Health of the UK space industry 2022’

The table below presents notable investors in 2024. The UK Space Agency emerges as the leading investor, completing 14 investments during the year. Those investments have been awarded under the UK Space Agency’s National Space Innovation Programme and the second phase of the International Bilateral Fund. The UK Space Agency is followed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Innovate UK, with the former awarding five grants to universities engaged in space-related activities, while the latter provided three grants to universities and two to private companies.  Among private investors, Plexal and Seraphim Space were the most active, each completing four investments, the third-highest number in 2024. Plexal exclusively provided grants to companies in the form of non-equity assistance, whereas Seraphim Space allocated its investments across two Angel & Seed funding rounds and two VC rounds.

Top investors by number of investments, 2024

Investor	Number of investments
—–	—–
UK Space Agency	14
UK Research and Innovation	5
Innovate UK	5
Plexal	4
Seraphim Space	4
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council	3
Scottish Enterprise	3
UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund	3

Source: London Economics’ analysis using Crunchbase data

25.2    Obstacles to securing external investment

In an open-text question, survey respondents were asked to state the main obstacles for their respective organisations in attracting investment from external private investors. The most frequent point that respondents mentioned was the risk-averse nature of the UK space sector. Some other key points include:

• Visibility in the global space market, and more generally to funders/investors

• Organisations being too small

• Lack of pre-seed support in the UK

• Length of time it takes to develop a product line

• The space industry being seen as expensive, and risky

• Lack of capital available in private companies

• Complexity of business structure

26.    Internal investment reported by survey respondents

Survey respondents were questioned on their internal investments (e.g. from reserves, founders, group, or HQ). A total of 98 organisations responded to this question with non-zero space-related Research & Development (R&D) and valid internal/external funding shares. Respondents reported a total of £70m internal investment for 2022/23, and expected the figure to increase to £72m in 2023/24.

27.    Regional distribution of the UK space industry

In addition to understanding the overall population, income, and employment of UK space companies, it is equally important to understand the spatial distribution of economic activity in the UK. Using the postcode of a company’s main site, and where applicable, the additional sites that the company operates, each site could be assigned to a specific ‘International Territory Level 1 (ITL1)’ region. From this, breakdowns can be provided for the number of companies^{[footnote 43]} in each region, the total space-related income^{[footnote 44]} in each region, and the total employment^{[footnote 45]} in each region. This section presents the industry as a whole, i.e. including DTH activities.

Additionally, this section also includes a comparison to historical Size & Health data from the 2016/17 financial year, in order to provide further context on how the regional distribution of UK space industry population, income, and employment has changed over time.

Note that the regional breakdowns are, in many cases, still based on Head Office (or HQ) location. This is due to the inherent difficulty in ascribing specific location shares to value-generating processes, especially when locations differ in headcount, R&D spend and various company activities complementarily work together to generate economic value.

London consistently represents a large share of population, income, and employment (18%, 66%, and 33%, respectively). The South East is the next most significant contributing region, with shares of 21%, 12%, and 17% for population, income, and employment. The South West represents an important share of the company population (12%), but has much lower shares in terms of income (4%) and employment (8%).

28.    Population by region

The table below presents a regional breakdown of the locations of UK space companies. As observed in previous years, space-related activities continue to be concentrated in the South of England. Together, the South East (621 sites), London (531 sites), and South West (333 sites) account for 51% of the total (51% in 2021/22).

UK space industry organisation population by region, 2022/23

ITL1 Region	Number of organisation sites (2016/17)	Number of organisation sites (2022/23)	Percentage share (2016/17)	Percentage share (2022/23)
-	-	-	-
South East	368	621	26%	22%
London	218	531	15%	18%
South West	173	333	12%	12%
Scotland	132	246	9%	9%
East	146	241	10%	8%
North West	75	187	5%	6%
West Midlands	74	185	5%	6%
East Midlands	83	162	6%	6%
Yorkshire and The Humber	44	130	3%	5%
Wales	47	105	3%	4%
North East	34	81	2%	3%
Northern Ireland	26	66	2%	2%
Crown Dependencies	4	-	0.3%	-
Total	1,424	2,888	-	-

Note: Percentages have been rounded and may not sum to 100%.

Source: London Economics

29.    Income by region

London accounted for the majority (£12.3bn, 66%) of income, and the three regions in the south of England together contributed £15.2bn (82%) of the national total (83% in 2021/22). Aside from the East of England which has an 7% share of total income, the rest of the regions exhibit a relatively even distribution of space-related income, with shares of total industry income between 1%-2%.

UK space industry income by region, 2022/23

ITL1 Region	2016/17 income	2022/23 income	Percentage share (2016/17)	Percentage share (2022/23)
-	-	-	-
London	12,024	12,285	64%	66%
South East	2,997	2,256	16%	12%
East	2,647	1,343	14%	7%
South West	233	662	1%	4%
Scotland	177	381	1%	2%
North West	42	360	0.2%	2%
Wales	85	345	0.5%	2%
West Midlands	161	317	1%	2%
Yorkshire and The Humber	129	200	1%	1%
East Midlands	98	185	1%	1%
North East	95	168	1%	1%
Northern Ireland	51	100	0.3%	1%
Total	18,739	18,601	-	-

Note: Income is wholly attributed to headquarters. Percentages have been rounded and may not sum to 100%. All values are in 2022/23 prices and encompass both DTH and non-DTH income.

Source: London Economics

30.    Employment by region

London and the South East dominate UK space industry employment, collectively representing 50% of the total (51% in 2021/22). Scotland has a higher share of UK space industry employment (13%) than company population (9%) or income (2%). The East of England and the South West jointly represent over one seventh of the total (7% and 8% respectively). Space industry employment outside of these five regions is much more evenly distributed – the seven next highest employment regions each have between 1% and 5% of the total.

UK space industry employment by region, 2022/23

ITL1 Region	2016/17 employment	2022/23 employment	Percentage share (2016/17)	Percentage share (2022/23)
-	-	-	-
London	12,286	18,279	29%	33%
South East	9,023	9,234	22%	17%
Scotland	7,555	7,120	18%	13%
South West	1,333	4,352	3%	8%
East	4,379	3,810	10%	7%
Yorkshire and The Humber	1,302	2,513	3%	5%
North West	2,360	2,403	6%	4%
West Midlands	1,170	2,115	3%	4%
East Midlands	868	1,858	2%	3%
Wales	517	1,757	1%	3%
North East	907	1,309	2%	2%
Northern Ireland	145	800	0.3%	1%
Total	41,845	55,549	-	-

 Note: Percentages have been rounded and may not sum to 100%.

Source: London Economics

31.    Supply chain effects

In order to capture the full economic impact of the UK space industry it is important to consider the indirect (secondary demand created for UK suppliers) and induced impacts (derived demand from employee expenditure) across the wider UK economy. This is achieved through estimating and applying a series of economic multipliers using Input-Output analysis and the space-related Gross Value-Added (GVA) share of more than 100 different sectors (as identified by 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, with some added granularity in certain sectors). Key definitions, consistent with previous Size and Health reports, are:

• Direct effect: The employment within space organisations and the value added directly through by these employees.

• Indirect effect: Employment supported and value added within domestic organisations that supply to the space industry. The procurement of space organisations from the domestic supply chain supports employment and demands value creation in the supplying organisations and industries. Supplying organisations will in turn increase demand from their supply chain resulting in a chain reaction of subsequent rounds of intra- and interindustry spending.

• Induced effect: The induced impact is defined as the economic activity supported by the spending by employees of part or all of their income on goods and services within the national economy. This generates income for organisations within the industries meeting their demand, who in turn demands value creation and supports employment. The employees within the supplying industries, in turn, spend their own salaries to buy goods and services. Again, this leads to subsequent rounds of economic activity in the economy as a whole.

32.    Multipliers

The space industry encompasses many different activities, and as such organisations in this study were active in over 60 different industries (as defined by 2-digit SIC codes, out of a total of 105 SIC codes). Each SIC sector’s standard input-output multiplier is weighted based on the proportion of direct GVA generated in each of the space-representative SIC sectors. We therefore assume that all space organisations in each specific SIC sector have the same input share and spending pattern as the sector as a whole.

The economic activity in other sectors supported by space-related employees and its supply chain can be determined by augmenting Office for National Statistics (ONS) input-output tables with compensation of employees and household spending patterns, which enables induced effects to be estimated.

Indirect and induced employment effects are estimated using the indirect and induced GVA estimates and applying the ratio of GVA per employee in each sector that is impacted.

An estimate of the total economic impact in terms of employment and GVA (without consideration for any displacement effects) of the UK space industry can thus be obtained by adding together direct, indirect, and induced impacts.

33.    Gross Value-Added (GVA)

Direct GVA has been estimated by subtracting the cost of inputs from space-related income. This is estimated using survey response data augmented by desk-based research – generally utilising the cost of sales (less employment costs). The Type II multiplier, which measures direct, indirect, and induced effects is estimated at 2.33. This implies that each £1 of space industry GVA generates a further £1.33 of GVA in the supply chain and supporting sectors.

Estimated Type II multipliers for UK space industry GVA, 2018-2024 editions of Size and Health

Year	2018	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
-	-	-	-	-	-
Type II GVA multiplier	2.3	2.4	2.3	2.63	2.35	2.33

Note: The reported years are the year that the report was published, not necessarily the year of GVA data to which the multiplier was applied

Source: London Economics

The contribution of the UK space industry including indirect and induced effects is therefore estimated at £16.7bn in 2022/23 (£18.3bn in 2021/22). This implies that the industry’s direct GVA of £7.2bn generated an additional GDP contribution of £9.5bn in the UK economy through these indirect and induced impacts.

34.    Employment

Direct employment is the total estimated space-related employment in the industry. This is estimated using survey response data augmented by desk-based research. The Type II multiplier, which measures direct, indirect, and induced effects is estimated at 2.47.

Estimated Type II multipliers for UK space industry employment, 2018-2024 editions of Size and Health

Year	2018	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
-	-	-	-	-	-
Type II employment multiplier	2.79	2.8	4.0	2.64	2.47	2.47

Note: The reported years are the year that the report was published, not necessarily the year of GVA data to which the multiplier was applied

Source: London Economics, previous Size and Health of the UK space industry reports

This implies that the activity of 100 employees in the space industry supports 147 additional employees among suppliers and in other economic sectors (e.g. retail and services). Using this multiplier, we estimate that the total UK-based employment supported by the activities of the UK space industry is 136,913 in 2022/23 (128,500 in 2021/22). Direct employment in the space industry is 55,549, and this supports an estimated further 81,364 UK jobs through indirect and induced effects.

35.    Engagement with the UK Space Agency

The involvement of the UK Space Agency in the operations of companies in the UK space sector is extensive and complex, and as such it is important to assess the view of companies of their involvement with the UK Space Agency. Out of 111 responses, 81% had engaged directly with the UK Space Agency in the 2022/23 financial year, with the remaining 19% not having engaged directly.

Those respondents who stated they had engaged with the UK Space Agency were further asked how satisfied they were with their engagement. The view was mostly favourable with the majority of respondents (80%) indicating that they were either “very satisfied” (38%), or “somewhat satisfied” (42%), with the UK Space Agency. A small proportion of respondents indicated that they were either “somewhat dissatisfied” (6%) or “very dissatisfied” (7%) with their engagement. 8% of respondents expressed a neutral opinion.

Satisfaction with UK Space Agency engagement

Level of satisfaction	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied
-	-	-	-	-
How satisfied have you been with the engagement(s) with the UKSA	38%	42%	8%	6%	7%

Note: Based on 89 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

36.    Future growth potential

It is important to understand the perceptions of respondents regarding the future growth potential for the UK space industry. As such, survey respondents were asked to assess the key enablers and barriers to growth, and additionally provide an assessment of the 3-year growth outlook. This captures the current drivers and barriers of growth, and how they are perceived to impact growth in the future.

37.    Enablers to growth

Respondents were asked to select the key enablers of growth in the 2022/23 financial year from a list of options, with the results presented in the table below. Respondents selected various engagements from public institutions or organisations most frequently as key enablers of growth, with UK funding via ESA programmes being selected by almost one-third of respondents (31%), closely followed by support and engagement with the UK Space Agency (29%), and support and engagement with your local space cluster (24%). Increased spending across UK national space programmes was selected by one-fifth of respondents (20%), and 13% of respondents selected re-entry of the UK to Copernicus and Horizon funding, the National Space Strategy, and Encouraging STEM uptake through education and outreach activities as key enablers of growth. Relatively few respondents (9%) believed business-friendly legislation and regulation was an enabler of growth. Further, 5% of respondents expressed a belief that securing space launch capability in the UK was enabling growth, and just 4% of respondents believed enhanced export support was important for growth in their respective companies.

Key enablers of company success

Enabler of success	Percentage of survey responses
—–	—–
UK funding via ESA programmes	31%
Support and engagement with the UK Space Agency	29%
Support and engagement with your local space cluster	24%
Increased spending across UK national space programmes	20%
None of the above	16%
Re-entry of the UK to Copernicus and Horizon funding	13%
National Space Strategy (NSS)	13%
Encouraging STEM uptake through education and outreach activities	13%
Business-friendly legislation and regulation	9%
Other	9%
Securing space launch capability in the UK	5%
Enhanced export support	4%

Note: Based on 218 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

38.    Barriers to growth

Respondents were also asked to select the potential obstacles that impacted their company’s success in the last year. Over two-fifths (41%) of respondents selected that access to funding was a major obstacle to their success, significantly higher than the second most selected options of macroeconomic challenges, human capital constraints, and limitations on EU programme involvement, each selected by one-quarter of respondents (25%). Slightly fewer respondents indicated that firm financial pressures (22%), were a barrier to growth, and relatively few respondents selected regulations (12%) as a barrier to growth.

Obstacles that impacted a company’s success

Obstacle	Percentage of survey responses
—–	—–
Access to funding	41%
Macroeconomic challenges	25%
Human capital constraints	25%
Limitations on EU programme involvement	25%
Firm financial pressures	22%
None of the above	14%
Regulations	12%

Note: Based on 218 responses. These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

39.    3-year outlook

In order to assess the general confidence regarding the future business environment for companies involved in the UK space industry, respondents were asked to estimate how their UK space operations are likely to perform over the next three years, relative to performance in the previous three years. The general picture is positive, with the majority of respondents expecting income, total spending, and employment to be higher in the next three years. A relatively small but stable proportion indicates that they expect the indicators will be lower in the next three years. R&D spending sees the lowest proportion of respondents expecting it to increase, and a relatively high proportion expecting it to decrease.

More specifically, in terms of income, the majority of respondents believe their income would be higher in the next three years (60%), with 42% indicating it will be “much higher”. 28% of respondents indicate their income would stay “about the same”, and 11% of respondents expect their income to reduce. In terms of total spending, the majority of respondents expect it will be higher in the next three years (52%), with 29% indicating it will be “much higher”. A larger proportion of respondents relative to income expect it will be “about the same” (39%), with fewer expecting it to be lower (9%). Employment is relatively similar, with 50% indicating it to be higher in the next 3 years, with 25% selecting “much higher”. 41% expect it to be “about the same”, and 9% expect it to be lower. Exports sees a similar proportion expecting it to be higher (49%), although a larger proportion indicate it is expected to be “much higher” (32%). 43% expect it to be “about the same”, with a smaller proportion (8%) expecting it to be lower. Finally, R&D spending has the lowest proportion of respondents expecting it to be higher (46%) as well as the lowest proportion indicating it to be “much higher” (24%). 43% of respondents indicate it is likely to be “about the same”, and a relatively high proportion of respondents expect it to be lower (11%).

3-year outlook of firm performance

Category	Much higher (>10%)	Slightly higher (<10%)	About the same	Slightly lower (<10%)	Much lower (>10%)
-	-	-	-	-
Income	42%	19%	28%	6%	6%
Total spending	29%	23%	39%	4%	5%
Employment	25%	25%	41%	5%	4%
Exports	32%	17%	43%	4%	4%
R&D spending	24%	22%	43%	6%	6%

Note: Based on responses from 134 to 159 respondents. ‘Not sure’ responses have been excluded (between 7 and 16 respondents). These statistics are collected from survey responses, representing a sample of the UK space industry, and therefore may not be representative of the UK space industry as a whole. Percentages may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Source: London Economics’ analysis of Size & Health survey data

Outlook for next year

In addition to the qualitative question on the three-year outlook, survey respondents also provided an estimate of income for the next financial year (2023/24). The table below shows the breakdown of their responses. It is important to note that this table is based purely on survey respondents (so includes no additional analysis of annual reports) but gives a flavour of how the organisations that may be said to have self-identified into the core of the industry expect to fare.

Income expectations, survey respondents, 2022/23 and 2023/24 (current prices)

Income year	Total space-related income (£k)	Respondents
-	-
2022/23	2,883	218
2023/24 (estimate)	2,951	218

Note: Only information pertaining to organisations that provided income estimates for both 2022/23 and 2023/24 is included within this table.

Source: London Economics analysis.

The table shows a small nominal increase in revenue at 2.4%. In combination with the prevailing inflation rate in 2023/24 of 6.7% suggests survey respondents themselves expect a real-terms decline in income of around 4.1%. Despite this, inflation has started to stabilise in the 2024/25 financial year, with current estimates for 2024 suggesting inflation is down to 3.3%. If the nominal increase in income continues, and inflation continues to fall, the space industry could see overall real growth in the next three years as survey respondents have indicated. In combination with the qualitative responses earlier, this implies that smaller organisations are more optimistic than the larger organisations.

40.    Wider impact of space activities

41.    UK GDP supported by satellite services

To understand the wider impacts of the space industry, an assessment was made of which UK industries use satellite services in their commercial operations, in order to estimate the proportion of UK GDP that is supported by satellite services. The estimates do not claim to be a valuation of the economic value contributed by, or attributed to, the space and satellite services industry. The estimates instead indicate the value of the output of those industries that are supported by space and satellite services.

Caveat: The analysis does not cover the full UK economy, being limited to the coverage of the ONS’s Annual Business Survey (ABS). This is limited to the UK Non-Financial Business Economy which accounts for approximately two-thirds of the UK economy in terms of Gross Value Added. It therefore excludes: financial and insurance, public administration and defence, public provision of education, public provision of health, and all medical and dental practice activities.

Using ABS data^{[footnote 46]} (based on 2022 data), it is estimated that space and satellite services support wider industrial activities across the UK economy that contributed £454 billion to GDP^{[footnote 47]} (18% of total GDP) (up from £364 billion and 16% when last calculated with reference to 2021). The industry accounting for the largest increase is the extraction of crude petroleum sector, which is mainly attributable to an increase in the price of crude oil over the study period^{[footnote 48]}. This accounts for one-fifth of the overall change.

Analysing the specific satellite services, and their individual contributions to the value of GDP supported by these services^{[footnote 49]}, this yields:

• GNSS (positioning, navigation and timing) are estimated to support industries that contribute £364 billion to GDP (14% of total GDP).

• Meteorological satellite services support industries contributing £264 billion to GDP (11% of total GDP).

• Satellite communication services are estimated to support industries with a contribution of £169 billion to GDP (7% of total GDP).

• Earth Observation satellite services are estimated to support industries that contribute £164 billion to GDP (7% of total GDP).

Note: This work was undertaken in the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service using data from ONS and other owners and does not imply endorsement of the ONS or other data owners.

42.    Conclusion

This edition of the ‘Size and Health of the UK Space Industry’ analysed the 2022/23 financial year. UK space industry income exhibited a fall in real terms of 8.9% relative to 2021/22, with GVA also exhibiting a real terms fall of 7.5%. When excluding Direct-To-Home Broadcasting, income fell by 11.1% in real terms. Recent macroeconomic challenges, specifically high inflation rates of 7.9%, are partly responsible for this decline with nominal income and GVA in current prices (in nominal terms) exhibiting minor reductions when compared to 2021/22.

The size of the UK space industry in 2022/23 is similar in real terms to the results presented in the Size and Health of the UK Space Industry 2018 for the 2016/17 financial year, indicating gains made in the intervening period have been eroded and suggesting an increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment of the UK-EU withdrawal (referendum and effective date), COVID-19, and inflation and cost-of-living pressures have caught up with the space industry. There is evidence to suggest that the real-terms decline in the most recent years is due to a lagged effect from a multitude of factors.

Firstly, the long-term nature of space projects and contracts signed by space companies are likely to mean that challenging macroeconomic conditions are not exhibited immediately in firm-level outcomes. The UK space industry exhibited growth in 2020/21 and a minor reduction in real-terms income levels in 2021/22 despite general macroeconomic challenges. Further, contract prices are determined at their outset, which acts to insulate space organisations from immediate fluctuations in income caused by general economic developments. Multi-year contracts are not generally adjusted for inflation, hence, although the nominal value of contracts being paid out in 2022/23 may be broadly unchanged, the real value is much lower compared to 2021/22. This might explain why Space Manufacturing dropped 9% in real terms since last year. This reduction puts the real size of Space Manufacturing back to a similar level as observed in 2016/17. Additionally, as long-term contracts reach conclusion, the industry, and its primes in particular, may experience a drop in activity unless they manage to find replacement contracts. Primes rely on a wide range domestic, and international suppliers, who may also be impacted by the same effect.

Secondly, the UK-EU withdrawal agreement was made effective in the 2020/21 financial year following the transition period, limiting involvement of UK companies in EU space programmes. Contracts for the European Union’s Space Programme began to be awarded exclusively to non-UK entities during the transition period, with the final withdrawal date acting as a final cut-off. As such, the loss of access to certain space programmes such as Galileo was not felt immediately. While the UK Government explored the UK Space-Based PNT Programme to replace Galileo at the start of the decade, its discontinuation has meant that UK capabilities in upstream PNT activities have struggled to find a suitable customer to replace the large share of Galileo contracts historically obtained by UK companies.

Thirdly, satellite communications (satcom) companies face increasing competitive pressure from emerging low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellations, particularly SpaceX’s Starlink, which has rapidly expanded its global presence. This increased competition may have impacted UK-based companies involved in the satcom value chain and resulted in a decline in Space Operations and Space Applications segments, and resulted in a 16% real decrease in revenues attributable to the satcom capability to £3.5bn in 2022/23 (from £4.2bn in 2021/22). Considering the longer term, the reduction in income from satcom has returned the capability to 19% of industry income, the same as 2016/17.

Additionally, the concentrated nature of the UK space industry means that the primes play a significant role in driving overall income changes. Notably, 12 organisations account for 69% of the space-related income. These companies secure major government contracts, but when such contracts conclude or move beyond their peak production phases, the absence of immediate follow-on contracts leads to a significant decline in income. This affects both the primes and their supply chains, which involves smaller UK space companies, and hence creates a ripple effect throughout the UK space industry.

On the other hand, employment exhibited strong growth of 3,521 (+7%) relative to 2021/22. This is in part due to the identification of over 151 new companies that engage in the UK space industry representing 1,386 space-related employees. Sky UK is the largest employer in the UK space industry, representing an estimated 37% of the sector’s workforce. In 2022/23, the space industry accounted for roughly 0.17% of total UK employment.

Breaking these employment figures down by segment, DTH broadcasting makes up 21,368 space industry employees, corresponding to 38% of total employment in the sector. Excluding DTH broadcasting, space applications accounted for the largest share of space-related employment at 37% in 2022/23, down from 40% in 2021/22. Space manufacturing followed closely, also representing 37% of the space sector workforce (35% in 2021/22).

The long-term employment trends reveal that when comparing employment by segment in 2016/17 and 2022/23, total employment in Space Applications declined from 68% in 2016/17 to 61% in 2022/23. However, within Non-DTH Broadcasting activities, Space Applications increased from 20% to 23% over the same period. Space Manufacturing also saw a notable rise, with its share of total employment growing from 9% in 2016/17 to 22% in 2022/23.

As evidenced by numerous survey respondents, UK-EU withdrawal-related challenges have contributed to recruitment difficulties. Barriers to hiring international talent, including visa constraints and reduced access to the EU labour market, have made it harder for UK organisations to recruit the necessary talent. Several survey respondents reported an ongoing shortage of skilled candidates, which has restricted company growth, and in some cases, led to lost revenue. This effect is supported by the reported skills and qualifications among employees in firms responding to the survey, where the proportion of university-educated employees has reduced to 69% (from 80% in 2021/22) and proportion of vocationally qualified staff has reduced to 8% (from 11% in 2021/22). Although this result is based on a sample of respondents that is not representative, a direction of travel since 2018 is indicated. This effect is not new, with all iterations of the Size and Health reporting large numbers of respondents citing access to talent as a top barrier to growth. The table below shows the proportion of respondents citing skills-related barriers to growth in recent Size and Health waves, as well as some from the more distant past.

Skills-related barriers to growth over time

Skills-related barriers to growth	Share 2024	Share 2023	Share 2022	Share 2020	Share 2018
-	-	-	-	-
Human capital constraints	25%	-	-	-	-
Recruiting staff	-	41%	46%	28%	39%
Shortage of managerial skills/expertise	-	17%	12%	13%	-

Note: Based on voluntary responses to Size and Health survey. The sample is different for each year and data should therefore be only considered indicative of a trend.

Source: London Economics, Know.Space

There has been an observed decline in productivity from £148,000 to £129,000 GVA per employee. As GVA has marginally decreased in nominal terms and reduced in real terms, approximately half of the reduction of labour productivity is attributable to the reduction in GVA. The other half is a consequence of the increase in employment, which may be a consequence of a shrinking pool of applicants exacerbated by the UK’s exit from the European Union. These difficulties in finding correctly skilled workers may have meant that some roles were filled by employees with lower levels of experience or qualifications, contributing to an increase in overall employment and a decrease in productivity. Although this figure is reducing at a faster rate than labour productivity in the UK economy, it remains more than twice the national average of £61,729.

Despite the reduction in certain economic outcomes, the space industry remains optimistic for the future. 60% of survey respondents indicated that they expect their income to increase over the next three years, with over half (52%) indicating an expectation of total spending to increase, and half of respondents stated they expect employment to increase over this period. In terms of exports, just under half of respondents (49%) expected them to increase over the next 3 years, and 46% expected to spend more on R&D over the same period.

Further, respondents indicated that the key enablers of success are engagement with public institutions. ‘UK funding via ESA programmes’ was the most selected enabler of growth (31%), followed by ‘support and engagement with the UK Space Agency’ (29%), and ‘support or engagement with your local space cluster’ (24%). I.e., the respondents to the survey identify further support from, and engagement with, public institutions as key determinants of their ability to deliver future income growth. Specifically, the UK Space Agency, local space clusters, and involvement in European Space Agency programmes are considered most effective in delivering this growth. Enablers of success that received relatively few selections are indicative of areas that may need to be improved to allow for a greater growth potential amongst companies operating in the UK space industry. Only 9% of respondents cited ‘business-friendly legislation and regulation’ as an enabler of growth, implying that this may be an area of unrealised potential. Similarly, relatively few respondents (5%) indicated that ‘securing a space launch capability in the UK’ was an enabler of growth, as well as ‘enhanced export support’ (4%).

When considering the main barriers to growth, despite the ongoing macroeconomic challenges ‘access to funding’ was selected most frequently by respondents (41%). As mentioned above, this implies that there is a clear need for further support from public institutions to realise growth in the UK space sector. The aforementioned ‘macroeconomic challenges’ was selected by 25% of respondents. ‘Human capital constraints’ and ‘limitations on EU programme involvement’ was selected by 25% of respondents, and are both suggested to be contributors to the observed decline in productivity in the UK space industry. ‘Firm financial pressures’ was selected by 22% of respondents, with ‘regulations’ being selected the least frequently (12%).

Reflecting the continued optimistic outlook among survey respondents, the total number of unique investments into the UK space industry remained relatively high when compared to previous years, and when considering the total value of investments under £100m (i.e. excluding less regular ‘mega-deals’), investment was higher than last year. More specifically, total investment in the UK space industry in 2024 reached £481m across 92 investments. Grants and prizes accounted for the largest share of both investment volume and number of deals, representing 44% (£211m) and 55% (51 deals), respectively. They were followed by VC investments, which made up 43% (£206m) of total investment volume and 16% (15 deals) of all deals.

The analysis of survey responses showed that support from public institutions is viewed as important for the growth of the industry, and this support will only become more important as the sectors that rely on satellite services represent a larger share of GDP in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22 (18% of total UK GDP compared to 16% in 2021/22). The industry accounting for the largest increase is the extraction of crude petroleum sector, which is mainly attributable to an increase in the price of crude oil over the study period. This accounts for one-fifth of the overall change. Other sectors exhibiting large changes between these periods are likely due to the recovery of demand following the lifting of COVID-19-related lockdown restrictions, such as the air passenger transportation sector and related sectors (accounting for roughly one-tenth of the overall change).

In aggregate, the 2024 edition of the Size & Health of the UK Space Industry report highlights the problems that the space industry faces, in particular, declining real incomes, GVA, and productivity. The report has presented a selection of possible explanations for the observed declines in these economic outcomes, primarily relating to the ongoing macroeconomic challenges faced by the UK economy such as the high inflation rate observed over the 2022/23 financial year. Despite this, the report also highlights strong employment growth, strong investment figures, and a sector that shows optimism for the future in terms of growing incomes, increased employment, increased exports, and increased R&D expenditure.

43. Annex 1 Updated segment mapping

The goal with sectoral definitions in the Size & Health series has long been to preserve consistency and traceability of results with previous editions while still capturing data in useful categories that reflect the evolving UK space industry. As such, the sectoral breakdown adopted in previous editions has been augmented this year through the addition of a new segment, ‘In-Space Economy’. This is in recognition of observed and expected growth in this area.

To aid international comparisons, we provide below a detailed overview of how the findings in this report can be mapped to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definitions as per the 2022 Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy^{[footnote 50]}. This is in addition to the breakdown by OECD ‘sectors’ that has been explicitly reported throughout the report. The table below identifies which OECD sectors map to which Size & Health ‘capabilities’, which are reported throughout the report’s main body.

OECD sector – Size & Health capabilities mapping

OECD Sector	Size & Health Capabilities
—–	—–
Satellite communications	Satellite communications (excluding broadcasting)
Satellite communications	DTH broadcasting
Position, navigation and timing	Position, navigation and timing
Earth Observation	Earth Observation (excluding meteorology)
Earth Observation	Meteorology
Space transportation	Space transportation (including launch)
Space exploration	Space exploration
Science	Science
Space technologies	Other (generic technologies and components)
Generic technologies that enable space capabilities	Other (generic technologies and components)

Source: London Economics, previous Size & Health reports

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44. Footnotes

1. It is important to note that the presence of inflation will itself lead to changes in prices offered for products and services by companies, hence, this line of argument is a simplification. For example, Sky UK increased prices by an average of 8.1% on 1st April 2023. MoneySavingExpert. (2023). Sky to hike broadband and TV prices by £67 a year – but you may be able to leave penalty-free. Available at: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/02/sky-broadband-tv-price-hikes-2023/ ↩

2. The report delivers the most accurate estimates of key economic statistics and associated breakdowns for the UK Space industry. Despite this, there are methodological caveats and limitations which are discussed further in the ‘Caveats and limitations’ section. ↩

3. Including data collected for previous Size and Health of the UK Space Industry reports, space industry analyses for home nations on the UK, industry databases of the downstream EO and GNSS sectors, and more than a decade of attendance at UK and international space conferences. ↩

4. This included subjects such as Aeronautical Engineering, Astronomy, Space Technology, or Satellite Engineering. ↩

5. HESA. Table 49 - HE student enrolments by HE provider and subject of study 2014/15 to 2022/23. Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-49 ↩

6. HESA. Table 1 - Consolidated statement of comprehensive income and expenditure 2015/16 to 2023/24. Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/table-1 ↩

7. HESA. Table 1 - HE staff by HE provider and activity standard occupational classification 2014/15 to 2023/24. Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/staff/table-1 ↩

8. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2025). CPIH ANNUAL RATE 00: ALL ITEMS 2015=100. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/l55o/mm23 ↩

9. Note: the survey was sent to substantially more organisations than ultimately entered the analysis database. Organisations supplying raw materials and other inputs, as well as specialised engineering organisations, often have a profile of products and services that may be relevant for the space industry, and so these organisations have been invited to complete the survey even if their websites do not clearly indicate that their customers are in space. ↩

10. This represents an increase of 9 organisations relative to the previous Size and Health study iteration. Of the 218 survey respondents this year, 77 respondents are newly captured organisations and 141 were already included in previous Size & Health iterations. Among these 141 organisations, 87 filled out the survey in the previous Size & Health study, while 54 were analysed using secondary sources in the previous Size & Health study. ↩

11. A convenience sample is a non-random sampling method where respondents are included due to their convenience – in the case of this year’s Size & Health study their willingness to participate in the research was the determining factor for inclusion in the sample ↩

12. Several of the newly added organisations work across multiple segments and activities, hence, percentages do not sum to 100%. ↩

13. Includes Sky UK. ↩

14. Companies assessed using annual reports with a share of income related to space activities of at least 90%. ↩

15. Companies assessed using annual reports with a share of income related to space activities under 90%. ↩

16. These are companies that have been assessed using publicly available annual reports, when a survey response was not available. The turnovers of these companies (including both space related income and non-space-related income) are all greater than £100m in 2022/23. ↩

17. UK Space Agency, Annual report and accounts 2020-21. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60ed74f7e90e0764ccfbd767/4535_UKSA_Annual_Report_20-21_Final_13-7-21.pdf ↩

18. Despite the large number of respondents indicating that their income is expected to grow in the next 3 years, these organisations tend to be quite small. Therefore, survey respondents expect modest nominal growth of 2.4% in 2023/24. ↩

19. UK Space Agency (UKSA). (2023). ‘UK Space Agency Corporate Plan 2022-25’. ↩

20. The income reported for the “In-space Economy capability” differs slightly from the income of companies in the “In-space Economy segment” for two reasons: 1) there is a difference in the classification of the OECD segmentation (hence, some income is attributed to e.g. Space Transportation), and 2) ancillary service providers serving the in-space economy would categorise their services in the in-space economy capability according to the OECD segmentation. ↩

21. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2023). UK trade: December 2022. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/december2022#annual-trade-in-goods-and-services [Accessed 28/02/2025] ↩

22. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). Input-output supply and use tables. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/supplyandusetables/datasets/inputoutputsupplyandusetables ↩

23. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). Gross Domestic Product at market prices: Current price: Seasonally adjusted £m. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea ↩

24. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). A01: Summary of labour market statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/summaryoflabourmarketstatistics/current ↩

25. Several of the newly captured pre-revenue organisations report 0 employees, as they consist solely of the founder who may not count themselves as an employee. ↩

26. Estimated UK GVA per filled job in 2023. Values have been adjusted to 2022/23 prices using Chained Volume measure (CVM). ↩

27. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). Subregional Productivity: Labour Productivity indices by UK ITL2 and ITL3 subregions. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/datasets/subregionalproductivitylabourproductivitygvaperhourworkedandgvaperfilledjobindicesbyuknuts2andnuts3subregions ↩

28. See the ‘Gross Value Added (GVA)’ section for more information on space industry GVA. ↩

29. See the ‘employment’ section for more information on space industry employment. ↩

30. External R&D is that which is funded by an outside source – i.e. not by retained profits, investment from company owners, or other internal sources of funding. It is sometimes referred to as ‘extramural’ R&D. ↩

31. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). Business enterprise research and development, UK 2023. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/bulletins/businessenterpriseresearchanddevelopment/2023 ↩

32. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2025). Gross Value Added (Average) at basic prices. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossvalueaddedgva/timeseries/abml/pn2 ↩

33. The data is broken down into 88 industries and covers England and Wales only. The industry with the highest proportion of Level 4 or higher qualifications was ‘Scientific research and development’ at 83%. ↩

34. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2023). Education by Industry data tables, England and Wales, August 2023. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/educationandchildcare/datasets/educationbyindustrydatatablesenglandandwalesaugust2023 ↩

35. HM Revenue & Customs. (2024). UK payrolled employments by nationality, region, industry, age and sex, from July 2014 to December 2023. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-payrolled-employments-by-nationality-region-and-industry/uk-payrolled-employments-by-nationality-region-industry-age-and-sex-from-july-2014-to-december-2023#payrolled-employments-in-the-uk-by-nationality-july-2014-to-december-2023 ↩

36. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2023). Diversity in the labour market, England and Wales: Census 2021. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/diversityinthelabourmarketenglandandwales/census2021 ↩

37. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2022). Ethnic group, England and Wales: Census 2021. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/ethnicity/bulletins/ethnicgroupenglandandwales/census2021 ↩

38. Investment types covered by Crunchbase are: Funding Round, Equity Crowdfunding, Product Crowdfunding, Angel, PreSeed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Series Unknown, Convertible Note, Grant, Non-Equity Assistance, Post-IPO Equity, Debt Financing, Post-IPO Debt, and acquisition (including acquisition, merger, management buyout, leveraged buyout and empty). It also includes Corporate Round, Series D, Series E, Series F, Series G, Private Equity, Post-IPO Secondary, Secondary Market. (Series F and G have 0 for UK companies) There are also Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and Non-equity assistance that have 0 for any of the companies. ↩

39. Investments into UK headquartered space organisations are dated according to year of announcement rather than completion. ↩

40. Investments by or into organisations included in the UK space industry population that were judged to have a ‘space activity’ share of their overall business of less than 20% were excluded from the investment figures. ↩

41. For 21 investment deals, Crunchbase does not provide information on the amount invested. These include one VC deal, 14 Grant deals, five Angel & Seed deals, and one Other Investment deal. ↩

42. For consistency with last year’s report, investments in universities with identified space-related activities were included in this year’s analysis. ↩

43. This number reflects the total number of company sites. ↩

44. It has not been possible to break this number down by company sites, hence, the entire space-related income is attributed to the region where its company headquarters is located. ↩

45. This number reflects the total employment attributed to each company site in each region. ↩

46. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). ONS SRS Metadata Catalogue, dataset. Annual Business Survey – GB. https://doi.org/10.57906/ks2s-qx24 ↩

47. Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2024). Gross Domestic Product at market prices: Current price: Seasonally adjusted £m. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea ↩

48. The relatively large increase between 2021 and 2022 is mainly driven by the extraction of crude petroleum, which represents just under a fifth of the overall change. Between the two survey waves for the ABS, there was a roughly 50% increase in the crude oil price, which is likely the main driving factor behind the increase in the extraction of crude petroleum industry. Other sectors exhibiting large changes between these periods are likely due to the recovery of demand following the lifting of COVID-19-related lockdown restrictions, such as the air passenger transportation sector and related sectors (accounting for roughly one-tenth of the overall change). ↩

49. Multiple industries use more than one satellite service. Hence, the values of these do not add up to the overall GDP supported by satellite services figure. ↩

50. OECD. (2022). OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy, 2nd Edition. ↩