NSR Report: Earth Observation Markets to Generate US$ 54 Billion in Revenue by 2027

Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 23, 2018 — NSR’s Satellite-Based Earth Observation (EO), 10th Edition report, released today, projects Earth Observation satellite data and services will represent a US$ 54 billion cumulative opportunity over the next ten years, growing to US$ 6.9 billion annually in 2027. The market’s evolution toward more on-demand data and services will be driven by satellite constellations, high-volume imagery platforms, and subscriptions.

As the EO industry continues to shift from imagery to insights, NSR’s report shows a greater opportunity for downstream Information Products and Big Data analytics, than for the sale of data. Furthermore, NSR provides an industry-first assessment of small satellites impact on the EO markets, breaking down the revenue opportunity for all data and services generated by EO satellites below 1 metric ton in orbit now or expected by 2027.  And for the first time, NSR’s EO market report forecasts revenues from non-imagery products for Earth Observation, including radio occultation, infrared, and microwave data, and those monitoring greenhouse gases.

“EO is in a virtuous cycle; as more data supply becomes available, prices decrease. As technological capabilities such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing improve, the ability to extract market intelligence grows. These two trends come together to lower the barrier to entry for downstream EO information and analytics-based services,” states Dallas Kasaboski, NSR senior analyst and report co-author.

“The demand for data, from historical archives or ongoing monitoring, drove investment toward satellite constellations in the past. Now, even traditional players are becoming involved, with most satellite operators provisioning high-volume imagery platforms and subscriptions, diverging from the per-scene purchasing for which the industry is known,” stated Kasaboski.

Despite the many newcomers expected via the development of downstream services or launching of constellations, the market is expected to face aggressive consolidation. “Scale has always been a challenge for this industry,” states Siddharth Shihora, NSR analyst and report co-author. “Many cannot afford the effort, CAPEX, or expertise required to sell to larger markets or to diversify across verticals. There is room to play and grow, but with satellite operators moving down the value chain, and two of the largest EO companies merging last year, the pressure to succeed and provide an exit window for investors will be significant to new players,” stated Shihora.

Non-Imagery platforms are gaining momentum from investments, as a result, NSR forecasts this market opportunity for monitoring services that could be fused together with imagery hence, providing added value to the existing EO products.