The United States is one of the world’s key space actors, with a significant share of orbital assets supported by a dynamic commercial launch sector and long-standing technological and scientific capabilities. It became the second economy to operate a satellite in orbit in 1958 and remains the only country to have conducted crewed lunar landings, beginning in 1969.
The Space Economy at a Glance 2026
The United States also has the largest government space programme globally, a well-developed space finance ecosystem, including substantial access to venture capital. In addition, 13 US spaceports are licensed for launch or re-entry activities.
In constant USD million
Note: The creation of the US Space Force in 2019 may have led to changes in the reporting of military space budgets. 1. Includes only budget provisions for which information is publicly available.
Source: OECD analysis based on institutional sources.
The United States space budget was estimated at USD 53.3 billion in 2025, excluding classified activities (Figure 5.35). Civilian and dual-use activities accounted for 54.8% of the total. Civilian space activities are implemented across several government departments and agencies, primarily the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Commerce, notably through the Office of Space Commerce for commercial space policy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for weather satellites. Other key actors include the US Geological Survey for Landsat; the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial space transportation; the Department of Energy for nuclear power systems; the Department of Agriculture for applications such as smart agriculture and forest-fire management; and the National Science Foundation for space science and related infrastructure. NASA’s main areas of activity include exploration, science, space operations, including the International Space Station, and technology development. Under the Artemis programme, NASA aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon by the early 2030s.
IP5 patent families, by priority date and applicant's location, using fractional counts
Note: IP5 patent families correspond to patent families filed in at least two offices worldwide, including at least one of the Five IP largest offices (IP5, i.e. the European Patent Office, EPO; the Japan Patent Office, JPO; the Korean Intellectual Property Office, KIPO; The China National Intellectual Property Administration, CNIPA; and the US Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO). Patents related to space-related technologies have been identified by the EPO using the EPO-PATSTAT 2025b data (https://www.epo.org/patstat).
Source: OECD, STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats, June 2026.
The United States was the first country to create a space economy thematic account within the framework of national accounts, to robustly track the US space economy over time and compare it with other sectors. In 2023, private industries in the United States space economy generated an estimated USD 192.4 billion in gross output and USD 106.9 billion in value added. The space economy as a whole accounted for USD 142.5 billion in value added, equivalent to 0.5% of US GDP. The largest private-sector segments included manufacturing, covering satellites, ground equipment, positioning, navigation and timing equipment, and space vehicles, as well as direct-to-home broadcasting and satellite telecommunications. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis thematic account also includes government activity, which made a contribution to GDP broadly comparable to that of space manufacturing, at around 0.1% of US GDP, reflecting significant research and development activity in both defence and non-defence space programmes.
The United States accounted for 34.3% of global space-related patents applications in the 2020-23 period, a small decrease compared to 2010-13 (Figures 5.36), mainly filed by commercial actors in the fields of space electrical power, space system control and life support. The United States has a positive revealed technological advantage (RTA), meaning that its share in space-related patenting is higher than its share in overall patenting activities. US relative specialisation in space technology patenting has remained stable compared with 2010-13.
Fractional counts
Note: Perimeter of documents based on filtered journal titles and All Science Journal Classification codes in the Scopus database.
Source: OECD calculations based on Scopus Custom Data, Elsevier, Version 1.2026, April 2026.
In terms of space-related scientific production and excellence, US space literature (measured in fractional counts) has increased steadily since 2009 (Figure 5.37). The share of internationally co-authored papers has also increased over the period but is lower than the OECD average. When looking at citations, 12.7% of US space literature was in the top-10 percentile for citations in 2024. United States’ normalised citation score, comparing citation patterns within specific scientific fields, above the world average in the All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) categories “earth and planetary sciences” and “physics and astronomy”.
Over the 2010-23 period, the United States allocated around USD 95.3 million in inflation-adjusted official development assistance for space-related activities (Figure 5.38). Commitments mainly targeted environmental protection, agricultural policy and water management.
In constant USD million (base year=2023)
Source: Calculations based on OECD (2025[1])), “Creditor Reporting System (CRS)", OECD.stat (database), https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=CRS1 (accessed July 2025).
References
[4] Georgi, P. and C. Surfield (2025), New and Revised Statistics for the U.S. Space Economy, 2012–2023, https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/space-economy.
[3] McDowell, J. (2026), Jonathan’s Space Report, https://www.planet4589.org/index.html (accessed on 23 June 2026).
[2] OECD (2026), STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats (accessed on June 2026).
[1] OECD (2025), Creditor Reporting System (CRS), database, https://data-explorer.oecd.rg.