Space is no longer the final frontier. It’s an active arena where commercial companies and public sector organizations are gaining competitive advantage. BCG’s space sector consulting experts help clients enter and win the race.
The commercial space sector represents a tremendous opportunity for a diverse range of public and private sector organizations. Governments are looking to spur growth in space, and organizations such as NASA and the European Space Agency are leading the way in the commercialization of space. Incumbent space industry companies are taking advantage of new technologies that will give them a competitive edge here on Earth, while other businesses are seeking to leverage the benefits of space-based technologies. Meanwhile, there’s a new breed of companies built around satellites, spaceports, and orbit infrastructure. BCG is uniquely positioned to help clients across industries achieve their commercial space goals and explore new possibilities that may have once seemed impossible.
The space economy is taking off, but that doesn’t mean players will have an easy time launching their business. We provide consulting to space industry leaders, and we work with governments, established companies, and new market entrants to unlock opportunities in space industry areas across the value chain—from strategy and infrastructure to operations and end-user services.
In today's new space age, our mission is to advance a responsible and sustainable space economy, generate deeper insights about our planet, and enable scientific discovery. BCG’s space sector consulting experts—which include former space executives, engineers, technologists, and manufacturing leaders—have the experience and insights required to help clients realize powerful opportunities in the space industry.
We assist clients with the commercialization of space by providing a wide variety of industry-leading services:
A national space organization wanted to improve cost efficiency to support mission programs. BCG examined core spending areas, identifying the full cost of enterprise functions and providing insight into performance variance and opportunities, while also developing a tool that captures and maps actual costs. This effort improved cost tracking by 17% and allowed the agency to reduce risk by $4.5 million.
A spaceport with a well-established place in the launch market wanted to scale effectively to keep pace with competitors, seeking a threefold growth in launch infrastructure over ten years. BCG helped develop a pricing tool that effectively monetizes key assets and services that will support pricing negotiations. Using this tool has the potential to lift revenues sixfold per mission.
A new military space organization was tasked with standing up an organization structure within 15 months; the new organization sought to be leaner than its predecessor to enable efficiency and quick decision making. BCG helped deliver the full organization structure five months ahead of schedule, while eliminating about eight organizational layers from the previous organization model, with clearly defined roles for all billets.
A large satellite-manufacturing company was struggling to complete a multiyear effort to reduce its cost structure. To help the business get back on track, BCG’s experts established a project management office and enhanced governance processes. With a renewed focus on clear ownership, streamlined decision making, and creative troubleshooting, the manufacturer exceeded its original transformation goals by 12%.
We are privileged to work with NASA’s Ames Research Center and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to launch a GenAI lab for science and engineering. Harnessing the talents of innovators with decades of experience advancing the state-of-the-art in AI, we are pioneering the critical research and development necessary to propel new Earth science technologies forward—and take our global impact to new heights.
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Our space sector consulting team takes a comprehensive, cross-functional approach to help our clients generate the greatest amount of value in space—whether or not they see themselves as space industry companies. Our team includes experts from BCG’s core consulting practice, as well as BCG X, to offer tailor-made solutions that address organizational, technical, and other challenges.
