Marco Caceres, senior analyst at the Teal Group, said the explosion will cause people to question whether NASA should be turning to private companies to launch spacecraft.

"There are people in Congress who say NASA should not be relying on private companies," Caceres said. "Many people will now say, 'We told you so.'"

But there's always a chance of failure with rocket launches, he said, whether it's with a private company or with NASA.

Caceres noted that Orbital has experienced several failures with its Antares and Taurus rocket vehicles. "This is not a good record for Orbital."

Phil Finnegan, a drone expert at the Virginia-based Teal Group, also predicted new jobs on the horizon. "There definitely will be growth of new jobs in the UAS industry as commercial operations begin," he said. "At this point, what everyone is waiting for is the FAA to take steps to begin to open air space and that's going to take time."

The Socom notification is a big deal for the drone industry, said Phil Finnegan, director of corporate analysis for the Teal Group, an aerospace defense consulting firm. "From the industry perspective this is important, because there are very few programs out there," said Finnegan. "Companies are eager not just to get the business, but to get a blue chip customer like Socom."

"They cut costs in anticipation of this downturn," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with Fairfax, Va.-based Teal Group. "Given the shifting political winds, it's likely that the downturn isn't even going to be as severe as feared."

Additive manufacturing could save substantial time and money in engine development, but the technology is still unproven, said Marco Caceres, senior analyst and director of space studies at the Teal Group consulting firm. "Right now, what the Air Force needs with regard to a new engine is precisely that, to save a lot of time and money," he said.