China
2017 – China Launch, Payload
China’s share of global orbital launch activity fell from its 2016 high of ##% to ##% for 2017. The nation’s ## launch attempts moved it down in global launch activity…
2016 – Orbital Launch Reports and Forecasts
After many years of conducting launch operations in more or less the same way, the orbital launch industry is experiencing substantial changes on some fronts. In December 2015, one U.S.…
Checking the Oil Levels
One small startup company, Ursa Space Systems, uses data from space based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems to inform those interested in the oil market. The satellites fly... One small…
2015 – Chinese Government Space Budget
China is one of three nations, along with the United States and Russia, capable of launching humans to space, though it has not done so since 2013. China is developing...…
2015 – Earth Observation
The commercial remote sensing industry was estimated at $## billion in 2015. Market research firm Northern Sky Research expects this to grow to $## billion by 2024. Much of this…
2016 – Launch Industry
Attempted orbital launches decreased from ## in 2015 to ## in 2016. Of these ## launches, ## successfully reached orbit. There were ## launch attempts for commercial payloads... Attempted orbital…
2016 – GPS
While the U.S. Air Force (USAF) maintained ## operational satellites in its Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) fleet, the U.S. share of overall global operational PNT…
2016 – BeiDou
China’s expansion of its positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) constellation, BeiDou, continued during 2016. The country’s share of the world’s orbiting operational PNT satellites increased to ##%, ## more than…
2015 – Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Systems
The number of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellites orbiting the Earth increased by ##% from the end of 2014 through 2015. Of the ## nations fielding space-based PNT satellites…
2016 – Military Reconnaissance
Earth observation used to be the domain of a nation’s civil agencies and military. In 2016, ## spacecraft were launched or deployed in the Earth’s orbit. More than ##, ##,…