Frost & Sullivan has conducted a new analysis for the Asia Pacific Satellite- based Earth Observation Market. In 2010, revenues earned for this market were more than US$70.1 million and it is estimated that it would cross US$220.5 million by the year 2018.
The sensing market in the Asia Pacific region with its improved political milieu, expanding technological capacities and participant base is hovering on the edge of a growth upswing. In recent years, there has been a huge advance in the Earth observation (EO) satellite capabilities with the influx of hyper spectral, multi-spectral and high resolution data. This has helped numerous government and commercial users in their decision-making processes and helped them to increase the government spending for satellite imagery and space projects.
According to Kunal Sinha, who is a Senior Consultant at Frost & Sullivan, value-added services, ground segment and remote sensing satellites have become a part of the information systems industry. He added that the combination of satellite imagery and navigation and other telecommunication systems would spectacularly transform the application base and scope of this market.
Most of the Asia Pacific nations have understood the significance of satellite data in the protection of national security and advancing the socio-economic growth and hence have been taking the needed steps for obtaining suitable space infrastructure. These Asian countries need to own their satellites and hence were planning to launch their own remote sensing satellites, which in turn would provide ground segment service providers and satellite manufacturers big business.
Sinha has also stated that Europe and North America were providing strong competition to their counterparts in the Asia Pacific region. As the launching and operating of these satellites would prove to be very expensive, many of the countries were signing agreements with commercial companies for their specific imagery needs. The value-added services sector offers the most promise and hence some participants were going for vertical integration by purchasing companies in the lower rungs of the value chain.
Source: http://www.frost.com