ET Now Global Business Summit 2026: Jason Held flags ‘gold rush’ as global space economy set to double
Speaking at the ET Now Global Business Summit, he said the global space economy will double in the next five years. “The reality about space is that it is a $620 billion market that will double in the next five years,” Held said. “The reason we go to space is because there’s money there. There’s a gold rush there.”
In his view, space is primarily an economic realm rather than a necessity for human settlement. “We don’t need to go to space to live here on Earth.”
Satellites form the backbone of telecommunications, Earth observation, defense services and emerging manufacturing capabilities, he said, adding that most commercial returns today come from satellite deployment rather than human spaceflight. “The money earned today is not from sending people, but from sending satellites,” he said.
Held said that the transformation of the sector is accelerating as satellites become smaller and cheaper to build. He previously said the government satellites were “about the size of a school bus.” Commercial satellites, by contrast, can be “roughly the size of a toaster,” making them suitable for venture capital financing and startup participation.
“It wasn’t the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezoses that started all this, it was the miniaturization of space,” he said.
He said launch companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are helping overcome the logistical challenge of moving large volumes of material into orbit at lower cost. But it divided the broader industry into three segments: rockets, satellites and operations, and data services. Held also highlighted advanced manufacturing in microgravity as an emerging area of commercial interest. Companies like Johnson & Johnson are investing heavily in research on the International Space Station, where they say microgravity allows for “perfect crystallization” and potentially improved medicines. He added that silicon chips produced in space could be significantly faster than those produced on Earth.
At the same time, Held warned that rapid growth creates congestion problems. He estimated that there are currently about 15,000 spacecraft in orbit, increasing the risk of collisions in low Earth orbit and the geosynchronous zone. “There is no jurisdictional ownership of the area,” he said. “If satellites collide, a debris field is created, putting both themselves and their enemies at risk. So there is a natural incentive for cooperation.”
This dynamic, he said, is driving demand for space traffic management services, which is Saber Astronautics’ area of focus. He described the industry as “both an open door and a closed community”, noting that large prime contractors continue to dominate while startups seek to introduce disruptive technologies. He compared investment cycles in space to mining due to high upfront costs and delayed returns.
He advised investors to focus on business fundamentals. “Don’t sell the ‘sex appeal’ of technology,” he said. “Motivate the investor about the money you will earn.”
Looking ahead, Held said expansion to the Moon or Mars will likely occur as a gradual extension of commercial activity rather than a single transformative leap. “A Moon base and a Mars base; this is the inevitable progression of the growth of the industry,” he said.
