Global space economy totals $250 billion in '07, data show
By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published April 9, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Rocket scientists, politicians, space geeks and military brass kicked off their annual space confab, issuing data showing the global space economy totaled more than $250 billion last year.
But despite being an economic heavyweight, a top executive fretted that the United States is in danger of falling behind in space exploration.
The 24th National Space Symposium gives Colorado companies and institutions an opportunity to showcase their work and products.
The meeting began as NASA officials disclosed that the space agency spent $354 million last year in Colorado.
The money went to big contractors such as Lockheed Martin - which is designing the Orion spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon - Ball Aerospace and researchers at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado.
"We've got a lot of involvement with Colorado, and we'll continue that," said Richard Gilbrech, associate administrator for NASA's exploration systems.
The symposium's organizer, the Space Foundation, released a report calculating that global space revenues totaled $251 billion in 2007, an 11 percent rise from 2006.
The report showed that satellite-based products and services such as satellite TV and the popular navigation tool dubbed Global Positioning System accounted for more 55 percent of revenues.
"Those two sectors are growing at roughly 20 percent apiece," said Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham.
Yet a Boeing Co. executive warned that Uncle Sam is too preoccupied with the war on terror and needs to spend more money on space exploration - or risk falling behind space-exploration upstarts such as China and India.
"We can clearly see our international competitors fast approaching in the rear-view mirror," James Albaugh, CEO of Boeing's integrated defense systems unit, told the conference attendees.
More than 7,500 participants are expected to walk through the doors by the time the symposium ends Thursday.
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