Space: A slow burn for investors
Industrials
Japan’s space sector remains in transition: technically ambitious, strategically important and increasingly commercial, but still fundamentally dependent on launch reliability and policy execution, with recent progress overshadowed by several high-profile setbacks. Looking ahead, Neil Newman highlights 3 developments which would signal meaningful acceleration in the sector and potentially justify thematic investment consideration: 1) improving the reliability and cadence of H3 launches; 2) continued deployment and monetisation of Earth-observation and SAR constellations; and 3) stronger government procurement as space capabilities become embedded in national infrastructure and security policy. Companies flagged in Neil’s report include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, IHI, iSpace, Astroscale, Synspective and Axelspace.
Edition: 232
- 20 March, 2026
Space-based Earth Observation industry projected to be $27bn market by 2025
The inaugural edition of Quilty Analytics’ Earth Observation & Geospatial Quarterly Briefing series is kicking off with a report on the space-based EO industry followed by a deep dive into the expanding Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging sensor market and the $500m+ in new capital it has seen since 2019 from start-ups including Capella Space, Iceye, iQPS, Synspective, Predasar and Umbra.
Edition: 127
- 21 January, 2022