COLORADO SPRINGS — The Space Foundation says they've seen large growth every year over year in the global space economy. Their most recent space report shows in 2022, the global space economy reached a total of $546 Billion.
"What we did this year, we examined the government budgets of 51 nations. Even that is an indicator of the growth of the global space economy," said Director of Research at The Space Foundation Lesley Conn.
Conn says a large reason for the growth has been the changing dynamic between public and private spending, as more companies like Space X reach for the stars.
"Commercial space [spending] out of that $546 billion, now accounts for $427 billion of that total economy," says Conn.
She's very optimistic about the economic growth in Colorado Springs, citing increased creativity from more and more companies being used to solve problems. A major problem right now? Space trash, floating in orbit, getting in the way of operational technology.
"There are many companies that are developing technology that can now trace and monitor space debris that are the size of a grapefruit," continued Conn.
At UCCS, the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science Don Raybern isn't surprised by the $7 Billion that enters our economy every year.
"You know it's an extraordinary number, but it's not a big surprise," said Raybern.
His department says they've seen a dire need for a growing workforce in an industry that's seeing more and more technical workers retire.
"The average age of the aerospace worker, especially in the technical field, has increased over the last 20 years," continued Raybern.
The university is working to increase graduation numbers for aerospace engineers and is currently constructing a new building set to be finished by January 15th.
"We need to grow that population of students from about 1700 students to nearly 3000 to enable a strong workforce with high retention in the region," said Raybern. "I think we have a bright future in the region, I think our economy is extraordinary, but that technical workforce is going to drive Colorado Springs for the next decade and probably more than that".
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