Q1 Space Report.

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The global economy has taken a bit of a beating in the last few weeks, with stock markets tumbling and then rising and tumbling again, and jobs being slashed here in the United States anyway. What does that all mean for the space industry, and in particular, the workforce? Well, we find out more from the team behind the Space Foundation's Q1 Space Report. Welcome to T-Minus Deep Space from N2K Networks. I'm Maria Varmazis. The Space Foundation produces quarterly space reports providing data and analysis into the global space economy. Q1's report focuses on the space workforce. It found that the space industry talent market surged in early 2025, with job postings to an industry website up 17% from the prior year. To learn more about all of this, we spoke to Leslie Kahn, the director of research and analysis and digital programming, and Cass Cameron, managing editor of the Space Foundation's Q1 edition of the Space Report at the 40th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. Thank you both for joining me today. Let's start with some introductions, please. Hello. Thank you for having us. I'm Leslie Kahn. I'm the director of research and digital programming at Space Foundation, and my team produces the space report. And I'm Cass Cameron. I'm the managing editor for the Space Report. Excellent. Thanks for joining me today. So the Q1 space report just came out. In terms of some top line highlights, I know there were several really interesting focus areas. One of mine that I'm really interested in is in workforce, but I know there were a lot of major highlights. So let's go over maybe some of the big bullet points first for what were the takeaways from this report. So we always kind of have a theme of all of the space reports. I'll defer to Leslie. I believe our next Q2 edition is going to be a space economy, global space economy. And so Q1 workforce, we have to go on when we get data and analytics. A lot of what we see, we have a really great writer named Jeff, who likes to, I say likes to, is really good at profiling cities, emerging cities in space, emerging states, nations in general. He's done a couple of nations in review, a couple of area focus areas. I really enjoyed his front range breakdown of space industry in Colorado. That was one of my favorites. Another really great top line was we did an in-depth look at the FAA and their launch licensing procedure for reentry and launch. Go ahead, Leslie. So I think the primary thing that's really driving this edition is the look that we take at workforce, workforce development. So a lot of that is based on the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But what we do, we work with Mariel John Borowitz, who is now a director of a new space program at the Sam Nunn School of Government in Georgia. But we have probably for the last 15 years been tracking several key sectors in the space industry. And so that allows us to see how these sectors have shifted and adjusted over time. So that is really one of the foundational articles in this edition. But we've also got additional writers. Tom Roder, for example, is looking at the growth in the demand in the manufacturing sector. And we also look at what are some of the emerging jobs that we see really being driven by how much space is developing and how rapidly it's coming. Can we get into that a little bit? I was going to say, I bet that you would like some follow-up questions for that. So really what we're seeing, I think our biggest takeaway this edition is that while the year-over-year growth of some of these key space jobs that we follow, it was a little bit slower. More year-over-year. But when we look at the five-year and 10-year comparisons, we are seeing double-digit growth. I mean, in the terms of 18 and 27% growth. So that's really significant as an indicator. Another thing is that this annual data tends to be a bit of a lagging indicator. So in addition, what we did this year is we also reached out to some companies because we said as much as we can, we want a more timely look. And so in January and February, we reached out to a few companies. We had a fairly diverse sector. And what they reported back to us is the majority of them are hiring. And they are very optimistic about the hiring that will happen in the next three to five years. We had probably, I believe, about 45% of those companies said we are hiring as fast as we can and we expect to hire as fast as we can over the next three to five years. We also found a number of companies saying, yes, we are relying on bonuses to attract workers. Interesting. I'm curious if there are any noticeable surpluses or deficits in terms of maybe specific fields within those hiring areas that are worth calling out? I think definitely in terms of aerospace engineering. I mean, obviously, that is such a big driver. One of the things we're seeing, because we also did a look at what's happening in the college pipeline. And we have data in this edition that shows for the first time aeronautical engineers are outpacing other types of engineering, just in terms of entering the program and declaring a major. Interesting. We're seeing that. But we're also seeing a real shift in terms of big data, data analysis, AI. There were a couple others that I think the Space Force has really talked about that, Cass, maybe you want to go into those? Yeah, please, by all means. Yeah. So I'm very familiar with the cyberspace side of space. And one of the really big issues is a lot of satellites and all this data, it's creating really, really massive data pools. And not only how do you analyze that, but how do you train people to learn how to analyze that in an ever-changing field? So how are you going to have someone train an AI to collect this data and analyze this data, but then that AI evolves? Because the curriculum also has to evolve. And I think you'll see that a lot with Space Force and how they're trying to create these job pipelines for guardians and also compete with the private sector, especially in how much they can pay. It's the military, it's going to be on the same scale as everyone else. But how do you train military? It makes them also more valuable to the private sector, to these industry collaborative efforts, because military, DOD and industry have to work together on developing really smart ways to understand and analyze the data that they're getting and to continue. Yeah. It strikes me also that that sounds like the kind of job that maybe traditionally isn't considered like an aerospace or job, but that has very transferable skills in a lot of other sectors, which also means that there's more pipeline that can come in, which seems like a great opportunity for the space industry. Absolutely. And that's one thing that our kind of sister organization, Space Workforce for Tomorrow is focusing on, is that it's not the narrow aperture that it once was. I think most people tend to think, "Oh, if I'm going to be in the space industry, I have to be an engineer or I have to know how to mix rocket fuel." Right. Yes, we still need those. And there will always be a need for that. There will always be a need for that. But there are so many more possibilities and ways to enter the space industry. And so, data is part of that. Graphic design and analysis is another big part of that. So that's really what this symposium and the work that Space Workforce for Tomorrow is doing. And then through our analysis and reporting of the space report, we're also trying to get that message out there. That's fascinating. I'm also curious about manufacturing jobs, because that's something when I interview folks across the industry, comes up a lot as a very needed area and lots of skills needed there. Any insights from the report about manufacturing specifically that we can talk about? So I think you're absolutely right. That is something that we've seen over the last several years, that especially jobs such as welding, some of the more hands-on work for lack of a better description is really where there's such a shortage. And again, some of the companies we talked with said they're really having the most success right now finding people in other careers where they never would have thought, "Oh, I could have a job in space." And they're bringing them into the space companies, upskilling them rapidly and helping with everything from satellite manufacturing to rocket assembly. And as we see more satellites and more interest in getting up constellation or specific service type satellites, that just increases the demand. However, on the back of the pipeline side, the entry level, we're still hearing from a number of two-year colleges and universities. They have bandwidth in these programs and they're having trouble getting people to understand, we can train you now, we can get you into the space program. We'll be right back after this quick break. Why do we think that message isn't getting through? It's interesting. Part of what it is really largely is a perception issue. And it tends to be on two levels. One, they assume, "Oh, I have to be really good at math and I'm not good at math so I can't be in the space industry." Or they still have the feeling like welding, that sounds like that might be kind of a grungy job and maybe I don't want to do that. And anyone who's seen a clean room and the space manufacturing, grungy is the least word they would use. And technically, we three sitting here are in a space adjacent industry. We support and promote space. I can assure you, I'm fairly terrible at math. Yet, I have the joy of talking about and promoting the space industry. So there are lots of job descriptions. As someone who comes from South Texas, who I think probably 60, 70% of my graduating class went into oil and gas, whether that was in the side of accounting or office administration, a lot of them started off in school programs in Texas for welding and manufacturing. And their pipeline is directly to the oil field and working for major oil companies. The big boom of oil in the area didn't last the 20 years that they thought it did. And I saw a lot of people my age of mid-30s kind of go, "Oh, what do I do now?" And I'm now seeing them joining SpaceX. They're joining SpaceX. They're going to these from Dow chemical, like petrochemical jobs to space industry jobs that have moved to the area. And I think that's one of the reasons you're seeing like a big tech hub outbreak in Texas is that manufacturing level education was kind of built into the curriculum in Texas schools, which is very helpful. I'm curious to see in the future how many other state curriculums are going to start including those really, really difficult skills learned early on. You anticipated a question I had beautifully specifically about locations. Texas obviously is a state that comes to mind. Florida I would imagine. I'm just conjecturing there. But aside from maybe the usual suspects, any other locations that are especially maybe emerging as a new location for space jobs or any changes there that anything notable? Well, I think in terms of space jobs, certainly across the country we're seeing that. I don't know if most people, for example, would identify Virginia or Mississippi as key states in the space industry. But certainly they are from a support position, an education position that's really a growing interest. Texas and Florida certainly have been very proactive. But we're also seeing Maine and Wisconsin and Illinois are really bringing their STEM resources together. Maybe they're not geographically located to support launch industries, although Maine certainly could be. But we're also seeing, go Maine. Yeah, I'm from New England, so I'm like, yes. New England. But we're also seeing that other states are saying, okay, maybe that's not our superpower, but in the space industry we could become a research hub. Maybe we have logistical support where we build it and then, for example, there are states along in the upper Mississippi, I believe Illinois is one portion where they recognize we can build it here, ship it down the Mississippi, and it's a pretty quick jog over to Florida. So you're starting to see a lot of creative interest around how do we join this really rapidly evolving and growing space economy. Absolutely. It sounds overall pretty optimistic. Things are sounding pretty good, and this is always a great direction for things to be going in. I am trying to be cognizant of the fact that right now there's a lot of uncertainty in the markets as we're recording. Any thoughts on, as we look forward in the next couple of quarters, what kind of disruption we might see or not see, or how the market might in the space industry might be able to bear what's going on? We knew even last year, early last year, that we were sort of entering a second stage in the space industry and in investment, and that we were going to see really kind of a realignment or we might see larger companies starting to absorb smaller. So yes, some of that is going on, but we're also seeing a really healthy interest in other investors coming in. And as potentially, as turbulent as this period might be, it also is a time where it might create a lot of opportunities. So I would say, stand by, shameless plug. Anyone who wants to know a lot more about the state of space finance, if they go to our website, thespacereport.org, we have a number of investor programs that we videotaped happened at a January event, our finance forum. So there's really a wealth of information from some of the top investors and companies. And in January, they were robustly optimistic. And I think there's still fairly strong optimism. We looked in our digital edition, there is some quarterly activity. And in terms of merger and acquisition, what we're seeing is still on the upswing. Excellent. So that's all there. Before we conclude, I just want to make sure I give you both an opportunity. If there's anything else you'd like to add, anything I missed that I should have asked about, anything you want to make sure you speak to. I think the one thing that we're all going to be really cognizant of is just how crowded low Earth orbit is going to be as all these satellites come in. And then we're also going to be looking at the various orbits from very low Earth orbit all the way out to Geo and what's happening there. So I provide that answer only to make the sound engineer completely turn red. I appreciate that so much. But it's still legit information. I was going to say, I think it is important on the manufacturing end. In our Q4 edition, we did launch and payload analysis. And one thing that I know personally as former traditional media is that the general populace does not know how much space activity is going on. There were 259 launches to space in 2024 with 2,802 different spacecraft or payload released. So that's almost 3,000 more satellites in the air. And while you may see some very, very scary looking graphics that show a very, very clustered orbit, those aren't to scale. So there is some space there. But I would say that I'm really looking forward to not only the impact of manufacturing or on manufacturing that space has, but the more research satellites we put up there, the more research generating information there will be. And on top of that, we are going to see more companies working to come up with really unique capabilities to mitigate that space debris and that orbital debris. And so all of that together creates kind of a perfect storm of it's just a time for innovation. So I'm not extremely worried. Like Leslie said, standby. I think we're moving forward to even bigger and better and more galactic, distant space things. Beautifully said, both of you. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Thank you very much. That's it for T-Minus Deep Space brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. We'd love to know what you think of our podcast. You can email us at space@n2k.com or submit the survey and the show notes. Your feedback ensures we deliver the information that keeps you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. N2K Senior Producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Tre Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher. And I'm your host, Maria Varmazis. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. [MUSIC PLAYING]