The rapid growth in commercial space startup activity, commonly referred to as Space 3.0, led to numerous claims about the potential size and growth trajectory of the satellite remote sensing market. Many of the optimistic market projections were largely based on the assumption that both startups and incumbents could derive unique and valuable insights from low-cost, frequently collected remote sensing data using emerging, advanced analytics techniques such as artificial intelligence specifically computer vision. Over the past several years, venture capitalists have invested in a diverse array of space startups ranging from rockets to payloads to data analytics companies. As the Space 3.0 startup market matured, we wanted to explore whether those market projections held true given the market developments over the last few years. Thus, CosmiQ conducted a comprehensive analysis of the commercial space remote sensing market to quantify market trends as well as analyze and project investment trends.

The rise of the commercial space market, Space 3.0, brought increased interest from existing and new consumers for lower cost remote sensing platforms. As the Space 3.0 market for electro-optical (EO) imagery began to mature, there was an increased demand from new modalities that could augment EO platforms such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Despite the growing interest in SAR from investors and consumers alike, the operational and financial models associated with a small satellite SAR constellation would likely differ in some aspects from their EO counterparts. As a result, CosmiQ conducted a comprehensive trade study to better quantity the performance implications and financial considerations for hypothetical small satellite constellation. Specifically, the trade study consisted of two sections. The first section simulated the collection capacity of a hypothetical small satellite SAR constellation. The second section looked at the financial implications of such a system to help determine future investment strategies.