## 1 Introduction  
Finding an effective way to deal with current resource depletion and climate change will require soon a complete transformation of existing unsustainable energy systems [1]. The space industry has come to represent an icon of knowledge-creation processes in technology-intensive industries [2]. The industry is not merely comprised of launches and satellites, but now includes direct consumer applications and personal entertainment [3]. Therefore, the space industry has some history of expansion, and its growth is expected to accelerate [4]. An input-output analysis is useful for predicting which industries will benefit from their growth and to inform the government, which may want to use this information for policy making or investment decisions [5]. For example, space tourism is becoming a topic of great media interest thanks to technological evolution in the aerospace sector and with the reduced costs of access to space [6]. Moreover, space-based applications are already helping emerging nations in reaching social equity, but often their demands come after the excellent attempts taken in industrialized nations to guarantee that all helpful space-based information and features are put to greatest use for social reasons [7]. Space applications are mainly based on closed-loop systems (i.e., circular), due to two main reasons: (i) to guarantee a satellite mission, the platform should be autonomously powered; (ii) then, the spatial missions need regenerative processes to deal with limited available resources, for example air and water. Moreover, the very high costs for projecting and producing space technologies become more affordable when the system is reusable (to give an example, this is what happens for new launchers project). Therefore, the space industry is a clear example of a circular economy model. The circular economy (CE) approach has the ambition of making better use of resources/materials through reuse, recycling and recovery with the aim of minimizing the energy and environmental impact of resource extraction and processing [8; 9]. This mission is mainly pursued by redesigning the life cycle of the product, in order to have minimal input and minimal production of system waste [10]. A transition to a circular economy is required, not only because we need to overcome the limits of a linear economy, but also because scarcity of resources usually required a dependence on foreign countries on supply and a strong impact on environmental conditions due to virgin material extractions and \"old\" manufacturing process with no recycling objectives [11]. CE drives sustainable consumption and steers public and private investment, which eventually lead to sustainable development [12]. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) convey worldwide aspirations and urge all potential donors to help meet their difficulties [13]. Given the significant part that the space domain has already performed in growth initiatives and the excellent chance to increase its input, space operators are called on to take advantage of the momentum of the SDGs, not only to concentrate on how they can further participate, but also how they can become a more integrated component of a society struggling with growth in a wider global sense, thereby optimizing efficiency and input [14]. The following mapping, shown in Table 1, may be suggested to evaluate the space potential in order to pursue SDGs.