Global demand will send 1,600 satellites, collectively worth about $250 billion, to orbit by 2025, according to Cambridge, Mass.-based Northern Sky Research (NSR).
NSR forecasts an average of 110 satellite launches a year between now and 2025. Peak demand will hit in 2016 when 70 satellites worth a total of $20 billion will fly, the research firm projects in its latest report on satellite manufacturing and launch.
“This is a significant increase over the last 15 years,” NSR Senior Analyst Prashant Butani said in a June 7 statement. In the previous 15 years, users launched about 1,500 satellites — about a hundred a year, according to NSR.
Butani said that satellite operators face a potential bottleneck because of the “limited number of launcher options available.” The dearth should inspire what Butani called “unusual” launch contracts, which he expects to materialize “soon.”