2010
2010 – Orbital Launch Reports and Forecasts – Snapshot
Launch vehicles can be grouped into two categories. The first consists of vehicles that can propel their payloads fast enough at a sufficient altitude to achieve orbit. A launch vehicle that is unable to place a payload in orbit, but can still carry a payload into space, is referred to as a suborbital launch vehicle.
2010 – Probes – Snapshot
NASA’s Kepler spacecraft was launched in March 2009 aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Kepler’s mission is to monitor the brightness of more than 100,000 stars in a single region of the sky for at least three years.
2010 – European Military Space Budget – Snapshot
Most nations do not make details about their budgets, programs, and missions related to national security and intelligence activities publicly available. In addition, as some programs have civilian and military applications, isolating the military portion of dual-use programs is not always possible. As a case in point, the European Defence Agency continues to consolidate its relationship with ESA through coordinating definitions, research, technology, and feasibility studies, with particular focus on the development of a three-satellite Multinational Space-based Imaging System (MUSIS) program.
2010 – South Korean Government Space Budget – Snapshot
In calendar year 2010, South Korea spent an estimated ## billion won (US$## million) on civil space, a ##% decrease from the 2009 budget of ## billion won ($##million). South Korea’s 2010 planned civil space spending constitutes approximately ##% of the country’s ## trillion won (US$## billion) national budget. Civil space activities in South Korea are carried out by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). During 2010, South Korean space activities included the launch of the Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS-1) and a second attempted flight of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), South Korea’s space launch vehicle.
2010 – Infrastructure Metrics – Snapshot
Some accepted estimation methods fais to take into account the fact that not all launch vehicles are equal. The smallest orbital launch vehicles can place payloads of only a few hundred kilograms into orbit, while the largest vehicles can carry tens of thousands of kilograms. This section explains how the Space Foundation provides meaningful methods of measuring space infrastructure.
2010 – Landers, Rovers – Snapshot
While ground-based telescopes and orbiting spacecraft can provide many kinds of new information, different insights are possible when physically present on other bodies in the Solar System. A number of spacecraft have touched down and explored the surface of other worlds, from the human Apollo landings more than 40 years ago to the robotic Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
2010 – Russian Government Space Budget – Snapshot
In calendar year 2010, the estimated planned budget for Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, was more than ## billion rubles (US$## billion). This amount constitutes an increase of ##% from the previous year’s budget of ## billion rubles and represents approximately ##% of Russia’s ## trillion ruble (US$## billion) planned 2010 federal expenditure. Russian space-related spending in 2010 continued a program of infrastructure investments begun under the large funding increase received during 2009. Areas of priority include the new Angara family of rockets, reaching full operational status of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), constructing a new space launch center in the Russian Far East, and continuing to support the ISS. Russia has announced plans to spend ## billion rubles (US$## billion) in 2011 on national space activities.
2010 – Japanese Government Space Budget – Snapshot
In FY 2010, Japan’s national budget allocated ¥## billion (US$## billion) for space programs across the government, a decrease of ##% from the previous year’s total of ¥## billion. This represents approximately ##% of the country’s ¥## trillion (US$## trillion) national budget. Japanese space spending is allocated among several government ministries, coordinated through the Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy. In FY 2010 the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), funded through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, was operated with a budget of ¥## billion (US$## billion), representing approximately ##% of Japan’s space spending.
2010 – Israeli Government Space Budget – Snapshot
Civil space expenditures in Israel are small, estimated at ## million New Israeli Shekels (US$## million) in 2010. The majority of Israel’s space spending is for military purposes, amounting to ## million New Israeli Shekels (US$## million) annually. This accounts for roughly ##% of the country’s 2010 national budget of ## billion New Israeli Shekels (US$## billion).
2010 – Meteorology – Snapshot
Concerns about global climate change have led to the use of remote sensing satellites to measure the potential impact of humans on the environment. NASA employs more than a dozen Earth science spacecraft measuring a variety of environmental factors, including sea level, the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere, and changes in the size of the Earth’s ice sheets. The United States and Taiwan have partnered to develop the six-satellite FORMOSAT fleet, used to collect atmospheric data for weather prediction and for ionosphere, climate, and gravity research.