Space Economy Research

Decision-focused analysis on where real markets are forming in the space economy — grounded in demand, economics, and capital logic.

This collection reflects our ongoing analysis of the space economy — where missions, markets, policy, and capital collide.

While many of the dynamics we examine (dual-use economics, infrastructure-heavy markets, policy constraints) appear across frontier technologies, space is where these forces are most visible, most acute, and most investable today.

The Space Economy Is at an Inflection Point

What happens now will determine whether the space sector reaches market-driven hypergrowth — or remains stagnant, mission-locked, and government-dependent.

Governments will fund the next generation of space infrastructure. Markets will decide whether it compounds.

This Point-of-View explains how early investment, architecture, and policy choices lock in one path or the other — and how to tell the difference before capital is committed. Read our Point-of-View

Artemis I Space Launch System on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center
Research and Commentary
Latest analysis on Frontier Technologies and the Space Economy
February 9, 2026
Axiom Space: Productizing Human Access to Orbit
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

Why mission-funded space infrastructure succeeds — or quietly fails to become a market

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February 3, 2026
Diagnostic: Is This Actually a Market?
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

A Diagnostic for Founders, Investors, and Operators in Frontier & Dual-Use Technologies

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January 30, 2026
Missions → Markets: The Signal (01)
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

A Strategic Intelligence Brief for Founders, Investors, and Operators in the Space Economy

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January 29, 2026
2025: Record Investment in the Space Economy
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

2025 Saw Record Space Investment: Are We Building Markets or Locking In Mission-Dependence at Scale?

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January 20, 2026
Optionality Dies in the Architecture Phase
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

Why Dual-Use Is a Design Problem, Not a Customer Mix Problem

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December 23, 2025
Space-Based Data Centers: When Mission Logic Meets Market Formation
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

Why Structure, not Technology, Will Determine Whether Space-Based Data Centers Become Markets

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December 18, 2025
When Mission Logic Broke: Lessons from the SpaceX Inflection Point
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

Missions are not markets. Capabilities are not customers. Execution is not demand.

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December 12, 2025
What the K2 Fund Raise Signals About the Move from Missions to Markets
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

Productization as Precursor

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December 1, 2025
Why Space-Native Markets Matter
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

Clarifying the path to a resilient, market-driven space economy

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November 28, 2025
Mapping the Space-Native Economy
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

A visual framework for the markets where end-user demand drives real revenue into the space sector.

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November 24, 2025
Missions vs. Markets: The Space Economy Needs a Better Map
Dan Garretson, Ph.D.

A demand-first framework for understanding where value is actually created — and why the current definitions fall short.

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These examples reflect where our judgment has been applied — not a menu of services. Today, this experience informs our Space Market Intelligence Program, providing clients with standing clarity rather than episodic execution.

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