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Ground facilities support space infrastructure by controlling spacecraft or processing the data that satellites gather and send to Earth. Remote sensing satellites orbit the Earth, gathering data that then needs to be archived, processed, and analyzed while the satellites themselves need to be tasked and targeted to collect imagery in the most efficient manner possible. To perform these tasks, commercial remote sensing satellite operators have established networks of satellite control stations, data reception stations, and data processing centers.
Read MoreChina is also in the process of building a new spaceport, the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center (WSLC), on the Chinese island of Hainan, in the South China Sea. It will host the new Long March 5 rocket series, as well as successor vehicles. Construction started on the center in late 2007 and is expected to be completed in 2013, allowing for a first launch in 2014.
Read MoreRussia operates orbital flights from two main spaceports, Baikonur and Plesetsk, and is in the process of building a new spaceport. Baikonur is by far the most important Russian spaceport, even though it lies within the territory of another country. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia struck a deal with newly independent Kazakhstan to retain control over the site.
Read MoreThe United States is home to several spaceports operated by the military or NASA; others are run by public-private partnerships as commercial entities. The largest and most sophisticated U.S. spaceports are the adjacent facilities of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the USAF’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. All crewed U.S. orbital spaceflights flights have taken off from KSC. Meanwhile, CCAFS serves as a launch base for missile tests and launches of military and civil government unmanned spacecraft.
Read MoreSpaceports support the preparation and operation of launch vehicles, and in some cases, act as a gateway to space for the private citizens who dream of going there. Some spaceports are very large, such as the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which encompasses 6,717 square kilometers (2,593 square miles) of territory in Kazakhstan and features up to 15 pads for many different types of orbital launch vehicles.
Read MoreIn 2012, 119 satellites were successfully launched on behalf of 24 different countries and international organizations. There were 1,050 active satellites in orbit at the end of 2012, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Of these, 435 satellites (approximately 41% of the total) were in GEO. An additional 504 satellites (48% of the total) operate in LEO, with most flying at an altitude of 600–900 kilometers (370–560 miles). Between these extremes is medium Earth orbit (MEO), in which there are 73 satellites (7% of the total). The 38 remaining satellites (4% of the total) are in highly elliptical orbits (HEO); the high and low altitudes of their orbits are quite far apart—sometimes tens of thousands of kilometers
Read MoreNASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the United States’ primary civil spaceport, marked its 50th anniversary in July 2012. The milestone coincides with the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet and…
Read MoreThroughout the world, space policies, strategies, and plans are formalized in documents through which governments communicate the priorities and strategic objectives of their space programs. Space policies describe the overarching…
Read MoreSpace activities, investments, and technologies are an integral part of the toolkit that governments and industry use to create economic and social benefits. Certain undertakings rely on a mixture of the activities described elsewhere in The Space Report, drawing together policy, space products, finance, infrastructure, and human capital.
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