Economy


2008 – Commercial Human Spaceflight – Snapshot

The personal spaceflight market continues to promise a bright future as commercial flights get under way as early as 2010 and demand and sales begin to increase. RocketShip Tours announced that rides aboard the Lynx, a suborbital vehicle being constructed by XCOR Aerospace, would cost $95,000 apiece. XCOR has already booked reservations for about 22 flights, each reservation secured by a deposit of $20,000. Space Adventures accumulated $30 million in revenue during 2008 due to entrepreneur Richard Garriott’s trip to the ISS. Garriott is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott; they are the first American father and son to have left the Earth’s atmosphere. In 2009, Charles Simonyi, CEO and President of Intentional Software, is to be Space Adventures’ first repeat space explorer. He traveled to the ISS in 2007 and was scheduled for a second visit in March 2009. In addition, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has secured a future Space Adventures flight with a $5 million down payment.

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2007 – Commercial Human Spaceflight

While the personal spaceflight market is still in its early stages, revenue continues to accumulate for individual trips and as deposits for future flights. Charles Simonyi, by his own account, paid $## million for his 2007 flight to the ISS. Alex Tai, chief operating officer of Virgin Galactic, a spaceline offering suborbital flights, reported in late 2007 that the company had collected $## million in deposits for future suborbital trips aboard SpaceShipTwo.

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2007 – Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services

Sales of GPS equipment and chipsets grew ##% in 2007, reaching an estimated $## billion in revenue. Of the estimated $## billion in economic activity in the global space economy, GPS equipment sales account for ##%. ABI Research estimates the total GPS equipment market to be $## billion in 2007. However, this includes $## billion in revenue from mobile phones that incorporate a GPS chipset. These are not included in the totals for global space activity because GPS capabilities are secondary applications of these devices.

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2007 – Earth Observation

BCC Research, a market analysis firm, reports that revenue for all remote sensing products exceeded $# billion in 2006. In a separate study, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) estimates that the space component of the total remote sensing market is nearly ##%.

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2007 – Satellite Television

DTH television had a strong growth year, with total global revenue of $## billion and a total of ## million subscribers, as estimated by In-Stat, a digital communications market research firm. This represented an ##% increase over 2006 estimated revenue. The exhibit Satellite Direct-to-Home Television Revenue compares 2006 and 2007 revenue for DIRECTV and DISH Network Corporation, two major North American providers.

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2007 – Satellite Radio

Total 2007 revenue for digital audio radio services (DARS) or satellite radio is approximately $## billion, a ##% increase over 2006. This number is the sum of XM Satellite Radio ($## billion), SIRIUS Satellite Radio ($## million), and WorldSpace Satellite Radio ($## million).

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2007 – Satellite Communications

Communications satellite services are comprised of fixed satellite services, mobile satellite services, satellite radio, television services, and data communications. DTH television is the largest segment of communications satellite services with ##% of total communications satellite revenue.

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2007 – RDT&E and IR&D funding

Total independent research and development (IR&D) expenditures are estimated at $## million for 2006, the latest year data was available from the Defense Contract Audit Agency. IR&D expenditures are private enterprise research and development costs incurred while working on government contracts but not reimbursed by the government. These expenditures are estimated by calculating the ratio of space R&D to total R&D within the Defense Department.

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2007 – Space Insurance

Revenue from space insurance premiums is estimated to be lower in 2007 than in 2006. This is partially due to the loss of the NSS-8 satellite from the January explosion of Sea Launch’s Zenit-3SL. Several insured launches were postponed as a result. Pagnanelli Risk Solutions, an insurance consultancy, estimates total premiums of between $## and $## million.

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