Infrastructure
Launch
2017 – Spaceports – Snapshot
Given the 91 orbital launch attempts worldwide, it is clear that spaceports were busy in 2017. This activity was distributed across 25 active spaceports. In 2016, spaceports in the U.S.…
2017 – U.S. Payload Launch – Snapshot
The U.S. share of global orbital launch activities continued to grow, from 26% in 2016 to 33% in 2017. In 2017, the nation’s launch service providers conducted 30 orbital launch…
2017 – Sounding Rockets – Snapshot
NASA’s Sounding Rockets Program Office (SRPO) uses sounding rockets as training tools for engineers and scientists, as well as for educating future engineers and scientists. The program provides low-cost launch…
2017 – Suborbital Payload Launch – Snapshot
Compared to suborbital payload launch activities the previous year, 2017 was a relatively quiet year. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) continued work with its Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1)…
2017 – Iran launches Simorgh – Snapshot
In 2017, Iran was the only other nation to attempt an orbital launch. Iran conducted a single test launch of its Simorgh SLV during 2017, giving the nation a 1%…
2017 – Europe Payload Launch – Snapshot
European launch activities in 2017 accounted for 11 SLV launch attempts, the same rate as the previous two years. Although launch numbers remained the same, the European share of global…
2017 – Russia Payload Launch – Snapshot
In 2017, Russia conducted 21% of global orbital launch attempts, a negligible increase from 20% in 2016. While its share of launch activities remained almost static, the country’s launch service…
2017 – China Payload Launch – Snapshot
China’s share of global orbital launch activity fell from its 2016 high of 26% to 20% for 2017. The nation’s 18 launch attempts moved it down in global launch activity…
2017 – India Payload Launch – Snapshot
India’s global orbital launch activity share and launch rate both declined in 2017. The number of launch attempts by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fell to five in 2017…
2017 – Japan Payload Launch – Snapshot
Japanese orbital launch attempts set a new launch record for the nation in 2017. Japan attempted seven SLV launches, growing the nation’s global orbital launch activity share from 5% in…