United States
2008 – U.S. Launch, Human
NASA plans to retire the Space Shuttle in 2010, though the agency has considered extending the vehicle’s life to support continued operation of the ISS. ## shuttle missions took place in 2008, all devoted to ISS assembly.
2008 – Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services – Snapshot
The satellite positioning market is extremely large, with estimates of the total revenues from equipment and services ranging as high as $## billion a year, according to a 2008 study from ABI Research. Since there is no direct usage fee for the positioning signal provided by the GPS satellites, these revenues flow from user equipment, software applications, and secondary services related to such applications. The equipment market is discussed with other ground equipment and the associated revenues are included in the ground equipment revenues.
2008 – Earth Observation – Snapshot
Broadly defined, the Earth observation market includes revenues from applications as varied as weather forecasting, intelligence-gathering, highway inspections, climate change studies, and commercial uses in agriculture, fishing, mining, construction, and public health. Based on BCC Research revenue data, the estimated total global expenditure for this overall satellite-based Earth observation market in 2008 was $## billion, a #% increase from $## billion in 2007. Weather forecasting and intelligence-gathering applications experienced the highest growth rates, approximately #% and #%, respectively.
2008 – Satellite Television – Snapshot
FSS includes the provision of satellite capacity for a range of applications from video distribution to relaying telephone signals, and integrated voice/data services on private networks which often use very small aperture terminals (VSAT networks). Estimated 2008 revenue for FSS is $## billion. This value is based on actual data reported as of January 2009, and past years’ data from SIA.
2008 – U.S. Space Workforce – Snapshot
In 2007, nearly ## U.S. personnel were employed in the space industry. A 2008 U.S. government report estimated that approximately ## U.S. workers were indirectly employed in the provision of primary, secondary, and tertiary goods and services related to space.
2008 – Ground Stations and Receivers – Snapshot
The enhanced methodology employed this year eliminates potential double-counting of revenues that can occur because of separate, overlapping estimates for ground equipment and GPS equipment. Thus the total estimated 2008 revenue of $## billion appears lower than those reported as separate categories in The Space Report 2008.
2008 – Space Stations – Snapshot
Funding for the largest in-space platform, the International Space Station, is included in the government budgets of ISS partners. NASA, the largest contributor, allocated $## billion for the space station in fiscal year (FY) 2008 and requested $## billion for FY 2009. During 2008, two major modules were added to the ISS: the Japanese Kibo, which cost approximately $# billion to develop; and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus, which cost €880 million (US$## billion).
2008 – Launch Industry – Snapshot
The pace of operations in the launch industry was essentially unchanged in 2008 with ## total orbital launches carrying ## payloads. This compares with ## orbital launches in 2007 carrying ## payloads and continues a steady four-year increase in global space launch count. Each Space Shuttle mission is counted as a single payload. Of the ## launches in 2008, ## carried commercial payloads, ## carried non-commercial payloads.
2008 – MSS Satellite Design Activities – Snapshot
A new MSS venture was announced in September 2008. With the backing of $60 million from Google, HSBC, and Liberty Global, the “Other 3 Billion” (O3b) network was introduced. The O3b network targets the three billion consumers living in less developed countries mainly along the equator who do not hav… Thank you for visiting The…
2008 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities – Snapshot
While FSS systems all operate in GEO, mobile satellite service (MSS) systems operate in a range of orbits. Some MSS operators have built their networks using a limited number of GEO satellites. In August 2008, the oldest and largest of these, Inmarsat, launched its ## Inmarsat-4 satellite, establishing global availability of its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service, and bringing the fleet total to ## spacecraft. Another GEO MSS operator, ICO Global, launched its G-1 satellite in April 2008 to provide voice, data, video, and Internet service throughout the United States on mobile and portable devices.