The goal of this article is to define “commercial activities” and “space industry actors” of the global space community as a foundation for clear communications (important for informal discussions and formal agreements alike) and academic studies. To facilitate better communications through clear definition of the word “commercial,” two dimensions of “commercial activities” are identified to include the level of subjugation to market forces and independence from government control, based on multiple U.S. government documents and using a qualitative analysis method. The practical result of the analysis presented here identifies the proper response to the question “Is this company commercial?” as “This is a private (or hybrid, or public) firm engaged in commercial activities.” To clearly define the set of actors included in academic analyses of different space industries, a culturally neutral definition of “space industry actors” is also identified using an established glossary of organizational forms. Although the intent is to develop a definition of “commercial” from a global perspective, this initial study uses source material primarily from the United States in formulating the definition. The resulting “Market Sector” is defined to include all Public, Hybrid, Quasi and Private Corporations, as well as Market Non-Profit Institutions (NPIs) Serving Businesses or Market Production NPIs. All space-related Market Sector and General Government Sub-Sector entities would be included in academic industry analyses of different space industries.
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