China
Advances in Nuclear Reactors Could Power NASA Missions on Moon, Mars and Transform Life on Earth
After a decades-long hibernation, nuclear fission power has come back into fashion for NASA and other agencies as a way to deliver power to remote locations and drive spacecraft at speeds other fuels cannot deliver.
Strikes in Ukraine Spotlight U.S., European Deficits in Hypersonic Arms Race
Russia’s use of hypersonic weapons in Ukraine is the latest escalation in a growing arms race for missiles that can travel through the atmosphere at more than Mach 5. The U.S. and its allies are accelerating spending on hypersonic weapons development, but haven’t fielded one to date, prompting leaders to fear a missile gap. . .
State of Space 2022
The Space economy hit $447 billion in 2021 and the pace of growth was expected to accelerate in 2022.
Insurers Finish 2021 in Black Despite Growing Debris, Congestion Worries
While increased congestion and debris from a Russian anti-satellite weapons test roiled insurance markets for some spacecraft in low Earth orbit, increases in launch reliability and a booming marketplace with historic numbers of satellites . . .
Ranked Spacecraft Deployments by the Three Most Active Nations, 2021
The United States continued to be the dominant leader of spacecraft deployments in 2021. Use the tools just above the table for sorting, advanced filtering, and other options, which will then be reflected on the live chart. For more data source information click to read the entire resource.
Spacecraft Mission Segment Shares by Nation
2021 analysis shows how strongly communications spacecraft deployments continued to dominate payload launches.
Launch Attempts by Country and Mission Sector, 2021
This interactive chart tracks 2021 launch attempts and shows that commercial launches have become the largest mission sector in the United States.
Total Orbital Launch Attempts by China and U.S., 2012-2021
From 2012 to 2021, as China’s space program has matured, it has traded dominance with the United States on annual orbital launch attempts.
Global Orbital Launch Attempts, 2021
Seven nations conducted orbital launches in 2021, with China, the United States and Russia continuing a years-long lead in launch activity.
2021 TSRQ4 – Commercial Spacecraft Boost Payload Deployment to New High
Unprecedented numbers of spacecraft were deployed during 2021. For the year, space operators successfully deployed 1,730 spacecraft, an increase of 29% from 2020’s deployments of 1,340. Companies and operators from 33 nations took part. . .