[5] A narrow definition of the space industry typically encompasses only hardware providers (primarily those that manufacture launch vehicles and satellites).
[2] The space economy has been defined as "all public and private actors involved in developing and providing space-enabled products and services.
It comprises a long value-added chaining, starting with research and development actors and manufacturers of space hardware and ending with the providers of space-enabled products and services to final users.
[8][9] With regards to the worldwide satellite industry revenues, in the period 2002 to 2005 those remained at the 35–36 billion USD level.
[13] The space industry began to develop after World War II, as rockets and then satellites entered into military arsenals, and later found civilian applications.
[6] From 2004 to 2013, total orbital launches by country/region were: Russia: 270, US: 181, China: 108, Europe: 59, Japan: 24, India: 19 and Brazil: 1.