The Big Bet on the Emerging Space Economy
A panel of space industry and policy experts examined the growth of the space economy, now valued at over $600 billion annually, discussing AI infrastructure, satellite constellations, U.S.-China competition, and the privacy and security risks posed by data centers placed in orbit.
Why this matters: Hundreds of thousands of satellites overhead and data centers in orbit are not abstract. They collect signals, images, and communications data at a scale that ground-based systems cannot match. The regulatory frameworks built for a handful of government satellites do not fit that world. Dual-use is the real issue: the same infrastructure that supports commercial services can also enable surveillance, military targeting, or foreign intelligence gathering. Most people have no idea how much of daily life on the ground is already dependent on, and exposed by, what is happening above it.
Who should care: Lawyers · Compliance · General readers · AI governance · Policy
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