Global impact of COVID-19 on satellite data services market

Space industry and the satellite industry

The space industry refers to all the objects/elements, which are intended to leave the planet earth and related services throughout the complete journey. Ground support equipment, spacecrafts, and the launch industry are considered as the three major pillars of the space industry. The global space economy was valued at around $366 billion in 2019, which constituted satellite as well as non-satellite industry. Satellite services industry garnered $123 billion and ground equipment contributed $130.3 billion. Satellite manufacturing and launch industry accounted for $12.5 and $4.9 billion, respectively. Furthermore, the non-satellite industry reported $95 billion.

Satellite facilitates business continuity, communications, remote imaging, broadcast, navigation, and other vital services critical to community well-being as well as public health & safety. Satellites provide a variety of mobile and fixed communications services. Various commercial satellites follow a standard frequency range for different applications as mentioned in below table:

Top impacting factors

Surge in privatization of the space industry, increase in need for enterprises to ensure their market competitiveness, significant advancements in geospatial imagery analytics with the introduction of AI & Big Data, and rise in demand for small satellites for earth observation are the factors that drive the growth of the global satellite data services market. However, implementation of stringent government regulations to deploy satellites and lack of dedicated launch vehicles for small satellites hinder the market growth. Contrarily, integration of 4D GIS software with satellite data and increase in new space movement are expected to present new pathways in the industry and will act as an opportunity for the growth of the global market.

Also read: How’s the commercial satellite imagery market faring?

What is COVID-19?

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China has now turned into a public health emergence of international concern. The traditional public health intervention measures are less effective as there is no antiviral drug or vaccine available. In December 2019, a group of pneumonia with unknown etiology was found in Wuhan city, China. It was observed that initial patients visited some wet seafood market where other species of wildlife were sold. Molecular analysis and isolation of virus from human patient showed that this new pathogen was a new coronavirus (CoV), which was first named 2019-nCoV, and later was named as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO). This new virus is now the seventh member of coronavirus, which is known to infect humans. On January 30, 2020, with exponential increase in number of confirmed cases, WHO declared this outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

Global impact of COVID-19 on satellite data services market

For most of the large space manufacturers, the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered mission-deployments along with slowing down the new product deliveries due to disruption of the supply chain. Government contractors in Asia, Europe, and North America have benefitted significant administrative and financial support from space agencies through accelerated and advance payments. However, smaller suppliers are dependent on larger firms for contracts and should wait for payments to trickle down.

Also read: The future of the commercial satellite imagery business model

Satellite Industry Association (SIA) member companies are taking actions to ensure delivery of critical satellite services. However, these companies are prioritizing the health & safety of their employees, customers, and their communities. Below are a few initiatives adopted by the SIA members.

AT&T has announced a number of initiatives during the pandemic to provide its video customers additional content at no cost during this time as TVs and movies are always a preferred source of entertainment for people staying at home. Moreover, BLUE ORIGIN it will dedicatedly allocate its additive manufacturing machines for 3D printing of the visors, which are used in face shields. These visors will then be delivered to hospitals in need around the country. Further, on April 10 2020, BOEING successfully delivered the first set of 3D-printed face shields to support healthcare professionals, which are helping to prevent the spread of the virus. The company further provides airlift facilities to help transport-critical and urgently needed supplies to healthcare professionals.

Post COVID-19

With the breakthrough in vaccination and when situation is under control, satellite data services market will undergo certain changes, as companies and government agencies are preparing for innovation shift post lift of the restrictions to rapidly assess and adapt their supply chains. For instance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an independent agency of the U.S. Federal Government, which is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and European Space Agency (ESA) announced that to document planet-wide changes in the environment and human society, they joined forces to use the collective scientific power of their earth-observing satellite data in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

So says a study

A recent report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Satellite Data Services Market gives detailed analysis of the pandemic on the market. This includes the current impact on the revenue, sales, and new measures taken by players.

Also read: 4 key trends likely to transform the global nanosatellites market growth graph