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The U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite fleet made up 34% of the operational global positioning, navigation, and timing fleets orbiting the Earth in 2015. Originally developed for military use, GPS became fully operational in the spring of 1995, marking 2015 as the 20th anniversary for the constellation. This meant the satellite constellation consisted of a minimum of 24 GPS satellites in their assigned medium Earth orbits after the completion of several tests. Since it became fully operational, the constellation number annually exceeds the baseline requirement by a good margin, not including eight backup GPS satellites.
Read MoreThe activities of three nations were responsible for nearly 76% of all of the world’s orbital SLV launches in 2015. Russia alone carried out 30% of the global orbital space launches, followed by the United States with a little more than 23%, and China with 22%. Compared to 2014, the number of orbital payload launches in 2015 dropped by six to 86.
Read MoreSpace infrastructure is a fundamental prerequisite for all activities that make use of space. It comprises all the hardware, software, and operators responsible for creating and supporting the construction, launch, and deployment of spacecraft. Recent years have seen a substantial broadening of the parties involved in building infrastructure: new spaceports are being proposed and developed, the number of small satellites has risen dramatically (often operated by startup companies), and launch companies are developing a wide variety of rockets to serve the entire range of spacecraft sizes currently in use. Although it is unlikely that all of the current ventures will prove successful in both a technical and economic sense, there are many reasons to expect that the industry will benefit overall from the new capabilities that flourish in the years to come.
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