Commercial Satellite Imaging Market Expected to Reach $9.2 Billion by 2031

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Commercial Satellite Imaging Market," The commercial satellite imaging market was valued at $3.3 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $9.2 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 11.3% from 2022 to 2031.

Presently, North America dominates the market followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. In North America, the U.S. dominated the commercial satellite imaging market in 2021 and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. Some of the key factors that drive the market growth include increase in dependence on location-based services, growth in applications in government defense services, and rise in the use of satellite data in the development of smart cities and connected vehicles.

Satellite imaging offers geospatial products and services for most government agencies and defense authorities for security-related applications. With high image quality and precision, satellite imaging is a proven source of information for any government or defense authorities, which helps in maximizing security programs. In addition, the information extracted from satellite images helps the local governments to better assess real-life situations. This, in turn, contributes toward developing live-saving and property-protection programs and enhance the future economic stability of their respective communities.

Furthermore, the current threat of terrorism and attacks on critical infrastructure can be tracked through geographical mapping and can be protected by adopting preventive measures, in the defense sector. Decision-making is becoming easier than before with the help of satellite imaging. Moreover, satellite imaging helps in precise mapping for mission planning, search and rescue operations, and formulating future developments. Therefore, surge in usage of satellite imagery in government and defense sectors has collectively emerged as the major growth driver for the commercial satellite imaging market.

Satellite images are used for urban management or planning and for smart city development. . Urban planners use satellite imagery datasets containing useful information regarding annotated objects data to understand settlement trends and ensure efficient infrastructure management. In addition, rise in use of remote sensing technology for zoning and city infrastructure modeling has helped in meeting increasing demands from city-based populations toward better management of sustainable urban development. In addition, growth in urban agglomeration and monitoring urbanization of adjoining areas to enable smart city planning and implementation is propelling satellite imagery adoption. Moreover, connected as well as autonomous vehicles leverage high-definition (HD) maps, seamless internet access, and roadside assistance during an emergency from space using commercial satellite imaging. Therefore, increase in use of satellite data for development of smart cities and connected vehicles is anticipated to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the commercial satellite imaging market. For instance, in April 2019, Maxar Technologies Inc. announced a collaboration with Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD) and a leading IT services provider NTT DATA Corporation to create automated HD maps of the Tokyo metropolitan region for autonomous vehicles using high-resolution satellite imagery data.

Aerial imaging services are majorly adopted for business and personal commercial use, owing to their low cost as compared to satellite imagery. Furthermore, the data captured by these services is most recent as in some cases old satellites may not be able to reflect the most recent changes or developments. In addition, the resolution and clarity of aerial images are likely to be higher, which makes the real-time situation easier to understand. These advantages of aerial imaging services are expected to restrain the growth of the global commercial satellite market.

Satellites usually provide images with a resolution of 50 cm. However, efforts are being made by the leading players in the market to decrease the image resolution limit to 30 cm in the coming years. On the other hand, digital aerial cameras can capture images with a resolution of up to 25 mm (2.5 cm). Vexcel Corp. provides aerial photography with 6.50 cm resolution, and GeoEye-1 provides panchromatic imagery of 0.41 m resolution. Thus, advanced features offered by aerial imaging when compared to satellite imaging majorly restrains the growth of the commercial satellite imaging market.

Some of the newly introduced technologies include electric propulsion technology, high-resolution cameras, advanced remote sensing technology, next-generation GPS satellites, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology, hyperspectral sensors, and multispectral sensors. Apart from these, the most recently developed technologies such as aerospace digital signal processors and large-scale anti-radiation field-programmable gate arrays are projected to make real-time image processing easy and overcome the limitation in satellite imaging. If a similar trend is attained in the future, satellite imagery is expected to be the preferred choice in almost all commercial applications, which is anticipated to provide massive growth opportunities for the market growth. Furthermore, development in data transmission capabilities, improvement in geospatial processing, and scalable cloud-based platforms is expected to provide new growth opportunities.

In addition, AI-based platforms offer insights into previously inaccessible factors such as social, industrial, and economic processes. In addition, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are increasingly used to process daily satellite imagery to classify and detect objects, locate geographic and topographic features, and monitor minute changes over a span of time. Moreover, ML and AI automated algorithms can accurately detect various things visible on earth from the space such as cars in parking lots, crop yield, and geo-sensing in agricultural fields. Furthermore, an amalgamation of cloud computing with satellite imagery enables researchers to access imagery data from remote locations.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis:

• This COVID-19 pandemic impacted the revenue streams allocated toward R&D and the adoption of new technologies

• In addition, remote sensing and imaging satellites have provided health care officials and other users with comparison imagery.

• Adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in delays in activities and initiatives regarding the development of commercial satellite imaging across the globe.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

• By application, the geospatial data acquisition & mapping segment generated the highest revenue in 2021.
• By end user, the government segment was the highest revenue contributor in 2021.
• By region, North America contributed the highest revenue, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA in 2021.

The key players analyzed in the commercial satellite imaging market include BlackSky, European Space Imaging, Galileo Group, Inc., ImageSat, L3Harris Technologies, Inc., Maxar Technologies Inc., Planet Labs Inc., Airbus S.A.S., SpaceKnow Inc., and Telespazio France.