The space economy is booming.

It's going like gangbusters.

As you know, the Space Foundation has been studying the global space economy for nearly 20 years.

And we've reached in 2024 a record high.

It's exceeding the $600 billion mark. and the new number is $613 billion.

And that includes both the commercial sector as well as the government sector coming together

and showing an increase over the prior year at 7.8%, which is really exciting.

The Space Foundation is a nonprofit organization advocating for the global space industry and its

many sectors. Over the summer, the organization released its space activity report, chronicling

the industry's ongoing expansion, which CEO Heather Pringle says was driven

by strong growth in commercial space. In 2024, the launch cadence was about one launch every 34

hours. And already this year, we're seeing one launch every 28 hours. And this increased access to space allows more companies to join in the

space ecosystem. It allows more innovation as well. And when you look at the commercial sector writ

large, so Space Foundation studies 12 different sectors, and we have a couple that rise to the

top because of this increased launch cadence and the ability to use space for more and more

purposes. The commercial sector accounted for 78% of the global space economy last year,

with government budgets contributing the rest.

On this episode, the Space Foundation's Heather Pringle, who is a retired Air Force Major General,

on the space economy and where it is all headed from here. I'm Morgan Brennan, and this is

Manifest Space.

Joining me now, Heather Pringle, CEO of the Space Foundation. Heather, it's so great to speak with you again. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Morgan. Great to be here. So I just want to start

with a big, broad question, and that is, how is the space economy fairing? It's going like gangbusters.

...