The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce responsible for producing economic statistics that provide insight into the U.S. economy. In March 2025, it released a significant revision and update to its Space Economy Satellite Account (SESA), offering detailed data from 2012 through 2023.
"I think one of the stronger trends that we've seen in this new time series has been the shrinking of the information sector as a share of total space economy GDP.”
Patrick Georgi, BEA
Products and services related to the Space Economy include the Space Economy GDP, which measures the economic output of space-related goods and services; Employment and Compensation, and industry contributions, which measures how industries like manufacturing, R&D, and IT contribute to the space economy.
BEA has also refined how it defines and classifies space activity—both ground-based and space-based.
Patrick Georgi is an economist with the BEA who is charged with production of Space Economy statistics. He says there has been a significant shift in the contribution of the satellite television segment to the overall GDP over the past few years.
"I think one of the stronger trends that we've seen in this new time series has been the shrinking of the information sector as a share of total space economy GDP, which has primarily been driven by declines in the satellite television industry. We've kind of seen this happening for a few years now, and the decline seems to be strongest from about 2016 to 2022. But as of 2023 it appears that slide has appeared to slow down,” Georgi said. “What we think is that during this time there has been a shift in demand from satellite television to more Earth-based streaming services. However, within the information sector, we are starting to notice an increase, a slight uptick in satellite Internet connections in the United States. So there's potentially room for that market to counter some of the declines within the satellite television industry."
According to the BEA, the Space Economy in 2023 contributed $240.9 billion to the overall U.S. GDP, and supported 373,000 jobs.
Share this post