According to the OECD definition, space economy is the full range of activities that create value to human beings through exploring, researching,understanding, managing, and utilizing space. It includes all actors engaged in developing, providing and using space-related products and services: research and development, space infrastructure, space-derived applications, as well as the resulting scientific knowledge.  Space economy thus goes far beyond the space sector in the narrowly meant sense and encompasses many others: just think of agriculture, environmental protection, natural resource management and transportation, to name a few. The space economy is now worth $469 billion globally, with double-digit percentage growth forecast for the coming decades. Most importantly, it will provide opportunities for less developed countries, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals.

From these first considerations begins the fascinating journey tdescribed in this book: space exploration and tourism, extra-terrestrial communications, asteroid economics, Made in Space products, but also space debris jamming the traffic of increasingly congested orbits. The future is indeed just around the corner; all we have to do is to equip ourselves with the necessary knowledge to face it.