Most of the money ($257 billion) is spent on
– satellite TV ($70 billion)
– maintaining ground stations ($74 billion)
– $17 billion fixed satellite services
– $26 billion Department of Defence (military satellites and the spending around it)
– $17 billion NASA
– $10 billion national reconnaissance office (spy satellites and spending around it)
– $8.9 billion missile defense agency
The foreign government spending looks undercounted. It does not look like the foreign military or spy spending has been taken into account.
$5.6 billion on commercial satellite building
$2 billion on commercial launch systems
IEEE Spectrum has more information on the business of space.
IEEE Spectrum has the latest update of a Mars plan from Robert Zubrin.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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