Analysys Mason’s lead analyst Christopher Baugh, in a review ahead of the industry gathering in Washington DC for the annual satellite show (March 23rd-26th, World Satellite Business Week), says that the satellite and space sector is changing, from what was once a steady march of tech progress, to a rapid, multidimensional transformation driven by geopolitical urgency, commercial innovation, and the maturation of multi-orbit architectures.

Baugh said that investment in space-related activity is “surging” and helped by governments and businesses which increasingly view space as a strategic domain.

Amongst his highlights for 2026 he suggests that Direct-to-Device (D2D) will become a commercial reality.

“Early adopter mobile network operators are expected to see a 1 per cent annual revenue uplift in 2026, driven by reduced churn and new upsell opportunities,” noted Baugh.

Baugh also sees positive progress being made in Orbital Data as the concept of orbital satellites being launched to test the concept of data-handling for AI and the key questions of handling on-board heat dissipation and whether the benefits of solar power can be harmonised. He admits that major questions remain: “How will heat dissipation work in the vacuum of space? Can large structures be assembled and maintained economically in orbit? And what are the sustainability implications, especially with constellations at the size and scale proposed by SpaceX?”

SpaceX is talking of 1 million satellites for AI exploitation.

Analysys Mason also says that 2026 will be the year where real competition will come into play from the new boys from Amazon Leo, and perhaps take some of the heat out of the never-ending growth of Starlink. “Amazon is positioning itself as the cloud native LEO provider, directly challenging Starlink’s enterprise ambitions and putting pressure on Geostationary Orbit (GEO) operators to accelerate multi-orbit strategies.”

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Tags: AI, Analysys Mason, Space, spacex