Look up to the sky — we’re a miracle living on one of the millions of other pebbles in the universe. Since forever, it has been the destiny of humankind to explore the frontier – and today’s frontier is space. After millennia of civilization, we finally boosted out of Earth’s orbit to explore it.
Consequently, space tech is increasingly emerging, although the building blocks have been around for longer. Q3 2025 space tech investments have hit a record $3.5B value, as per Seraphim’s Space Index, driven by new demand (defense, EU sovereignty), better tech, and new regulations.
Credit: Seraphim Space Index
80 years ago, mankind set out to conquer space…
Each space program reached further — first the Earth’s orbit, then the Moon, and later the outskirts of our solar system. Their progress has been slow and heavily dependent on state-sponsored research and infrastructure.
However, in 2015, SpaceX reignited the space race by inventing the reusable rocket—an incredible accomplishment, especially for a private company —that enabled much faster iteration across all aspects of spacecraft development. Since then, SpaceX has launched over 500 successful missions.
The decrease in cost/kg launched into space, the miniaturization of electronics, more reliable and powerful engines, better energy sources, and communication infrastructure have allowed for an acceleration of space development, starting with the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
The proliferation of LEO satellites, which are smaller and cheaper, is the primary reason why the number of operating satellites has been growing by 40% in absolute terms year by year, and it’s projected to continue growing at the same rate until at least 2030.
Credit: Union of Concerned Scientist
This new class of satellites has extended existing services and enabled many exciting new use cases. Earth Observation enables satellites to capture optical, radar, SAR, RF, thermal, and hyperspectral data and use it for a multitude of use cases, including forest and crop monitoring, city monitoring and planning, ship tracking, disaster monitoring, defense technology use cases, and many others.
Earth Observation use cases have already generated multiple billion-dollar companies, including Planet Labs, Maxar Technologies (now Vantiv), ESRI, and many others.
But LEO satellites, and soon VLEO satellites (Very Low Earth Orbit), have enabled other services, such as:
high-speed, low-latency broadband internet offered by Starlink, the satellite constellation developed by SpaceX,
Hubble Network’s in-orbit satellite Bluetooth data connectivity service,
in-orbit microgravity manufacturing for pharmaceuticals and special materials developed by Varda Space Industries (US) or Space Forge (UK),
and in-orbit data centers built by Starcloud (US), using low temperatures in space for cooling.
Growing companies, expanding use cases
SpaceX is no longer the only provider of launch services and the only builder of reusable rockets. Blue Origin (US), RocketLab (NZ), Firefly (US), Isar (DE), Space Pioneer (CN), Skyroot (IN) are in different stages of building launch vehicles for different use-cases (small/mid/large payloads), joining established players such as Arianespace (FR).
New satellite manufacturers such as EnduroSat (BG), Apex (US), Kepler (CAN), Gomspace (DK), and many others are also launching new products, along with the existing traditional satellite manufacturers such as SpaceX (again, US), Airbus (FR), Thales (FR), Lockheed (US), and others.
And to power this accelerating industry, new players are developing power and propulsion, comms, optics, telemetry, and re-entry capsules. While some of these components are proprietary to each manufacturer and serve as differentiators, many others are similar and will be manufactured at scale for all of them.
All of this infrastructure has to be put into orbit and then maintained. But not all satellites need to be fully assembled on Earth; some parts can be manufactured in orbit. In-space manufacturing providers, such as Dcubed (GE), Solestial (US), or Redwire (US), use either 3D manufacturing or roll-out solar array technology to manufacture or assemble solar panels in space, simplifying satellite deployment.
Another special use case is space cargo, which allows for transporting cargo from one place to another on Earth directly via orbit. Companies such as Space Cargo (LU), Atmos (DE), and The Exploration Company (DE) are developing specialized cargo-carrying spacecraft.
The Earth’s orbit is getting busier.
Maintaining space infrastructure is not yet a “today problem”, but will definitely be a “tomorrow problem”. ESA’s Space Environment Report shows an acceleration of all tracked objects in Earth orbit over time:
Credit: ESA’s Space Environment Report 2025
A busy orbit means more challenges for space monitoring, mission design and simulation, in-space maneuvering and servicing, and, later on, debris removal. And many new space tech startups are already working on these challenges.
Take debris removal — imagine maneuvering a satellite flying around the Earth at over 25.000 km/h, to gently push spacecraft debris or a piece of rock, so that it is directed towards the Earth on the right trajectory, and it does not collide with other in-orbit satellites or in-mission spacecraft, before moving to the next task. To fully exploit Earth orbit, we’ll need to solve incredibly complex problems, requiring improved engines, sensing capabilities, and more.
The stakes are getting higher, and failures now cost millions. As launches, satellites, and human spaceflight become increasingly common, they need to be easily tracked, financed, and insured. Companies like Flow Engineering (UK), Epsilon3 (US), and Charter Space (UK/US) are building the right products for the job.
Space is also the next barrier of defense. The Trump administration, which established the United States Space Force in 2019, has promised to place special emphasis on space defense and potentially revive the “Star Wars” plan first promoted by the Reagan administration to create a space force of satellites equipped with laser weapons.
Until then, using Earth Observation services for defense purposes has become common, especially in the context of the Russian war in Ukraine, where ICEYE (FI) services have proven highly efficient.
So far, it seems like we haven’t even left the orbit.
Beyond VLEO, LEO, and GEO, we can start planning for asteroid mining, Mars colonies, and deep space exploration.
The future starts again, tomorrow.