The biggest change in spacefaring activities is the recent emergence and now dominance of the commercial space sector. Whereas governments drove space activity in the early days of space venturing, commercial businesses launched more payloads into space than governments in the late 1990s. Business revenues exceeded $80 billion in 2000 and are projected to more than triple in the next decade. While this is a drop in the bucket of the overall global economy in terms of dollars, it is far more important to consider the type of information collected or moved by the commercial space sector and the capabilities that will be lost if these satellites are negated. Commercial satellites carry banking information, credit card authorization networks, video feeds for cable and broadcast feeds, cellular telephone networks, pager networks, communications networks, and corporate communications systems. All rely heavily on the commercial space sector.

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Smith, M. V. Ten Propositions Regarding Spacepower. Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Air University, October 2002. [ 5 quotes ]