The jury is out on whether space is actually the final frontier. What we do know is that nations all over the globe are looking above when channeling the next generation of defense technology.
More than 6,500 Earth observation (EO) satellites are expected to launch by 2035, generating roughly $160 billion in manufacturing revenues as governments expand sovereign intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, according to a new Earth Observation Satellite Systems report from Novaspace, a global consulting firm in the space sector.
The EO market is entering what Novaspace describes as “a new phase of growth” that encapsulates governments, defense organizations and commercial operators that are seeking greater access in an era of swift change.
Modified requirements are occurring in real time as past performance measures like image resolution have taken a backseat to revisit rates, persistence, wide-area coverage, interoperability, and access to multiple intelligence sources.
Increasingly shaping satellite architectures, procurement strategies, and investment decisions are driving the shift not just for EO constellations but for manufacturing and launch services, in addition to increasingly diverse sensor capabilities across commercial, civil government and defense markets.
“The rules of the game are changing,” said Federico Banfi, consultant at Novaspace, in a release. “Defense users increasingly require sovereign access to Earth observation capabilities, while commercial operators are becoming essential partners in delivering them.
“This shift is reshaping constellation architectures, sensor strategies, and the broader EO market.”
Adapting to a Changing Environment
It’s not just the satellites themselves at the center of the technological shift.
The process is being accelerated with the adoption of multi-sensor constellations that Novaspace says combines synthetic aperture radar (SAR), optical and radio frequency (RF) payloads. Integrating complementary intelligence sources allows operators to provide more resilient and comprehensive EO capabilities while meeting increasingly demanding defense requirements.
There’s also the rise of the “Skyscraper Model” already underway, involving the standardization of shifting value toward the integration of advanced payloads and multiple intelligence layers.
New trends show a burgeoning industry, exceeding the 472 earth observation satellites in orbit—202 operated by governments and 270 by private operators—reported in 2024 by the U.S. Geological Survey.
US Satellites Vastly Outnumber Rest of World
Satellites often play other roles as well.
For example, the United States’ Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites are operated complementary to NOAA’s polar-orbiting satellites that help the military by providing environmental information to properly plan and conduct military operations across different parts of the globe.
According to Orbital Radar, which tracks thousands of satellites in real time, the U.S. operates more satellites than all other countries combined. SpaceX’s Starlink mega-constellation heavily contributes to that amount, as the U.S. currently has at least 11,672 satellites in space—10,792 that are operated by Starlink.
The U.S. also operates critical government constellations (GPS, GOES weather, military reconnaissance), major commercial fleets (Planet Labs, Iridium, SES), and NASA’s science missions, per Orbital Radar.
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