Book excerpt: Space applications are becoming an increasingly important part of everyday life, with activities such as weather forecasting, air traffic control, disaster management, global communications and broadcasting dependent on the use of satellite technology. The space industry itself is relatively small compared to other manufacturing sectors, but its technological dynamism and strategic significance mean that it plays an ever more critical role in modern society. However it also figures among the sectors which are the least developed in terms of robust, internationally comparable statistics and data. This publication seeks to rectify this situation by assembling information about the space industry from a wide range of official and non-official sources.