The future of aerospace technology wil be driven not only by government decisions, but also by the market economy

Until recently, space was the exclusive privilege of the governments of global powers. The country’s image was built on, and political battles fought on, advances in the aerospace industry.

Every Soviet child admired Yuri Gagarin and German Titov, and every American child — Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

But by the start of the 90's, space exploration had given mankind not only diplomatic power, but also some more practical applications: solar energy, satellite television, mobile communications and a 15 Mb/sec internet.

Distances had lost their critical importance, and access to information had burgeoned to a planetary scale.

There is now an abundance of online photographs of the world’s surface, while military satellite navigation has developed into Google maps, road traffic monitoring and geo-targeting.

Space technologies have escaped from “top secret” files into private hands and transformed themselves into innovative businesses. Various estimates place the size of the global space technology market at around $400 bn per annum and it is growing at a rate of 5% every year.

By 2030, advancements in new technologies and rocket science have the potential to “boost” the market up to $1.5 trillion.