The global space economy is expanding rapidly as governments and businesses increase investments in satellite communications, Earth observation, defence and digital infrastructure.
Europe is expanding its IRIS² satellite constellation, while the UAE continues investing in Earth-observation capabilities, demonstrating how access to space is becoming strategically important for both economies and governments.
But growing satellite demand is exposing another challenge: access to launch capacity is increasingly concentrated.
Starlink reportedly accounts for a substantial share of Falcon 9 missions, while some commercial operators face long waits for launches.
This creates dependency on a limited number of launch providers.
The risk therefore extends beyond whether an individual satellite succeeds.
Communications, navigation, defence and observation systems can become dependent on the same launch and orbital infrastructure.
The stakes could rise further as companies explore putting AI computing infrastructure into orbit, potentially adding another critical digital workload to the space economy.
The next space race will therefore be about more than satellites.
Launch diversity, resilient infrastructure and sovereign access to orbit could become strategic necessities for the AI-powered economy.
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