China
2017 – Government Space Budgets
Global government spending increased in 2017, totaling $76.2 billion, up from $72.7 billion in 2016. Government spending accounted for 19.9% of the global space economy . . .
2017 – Human Space Launch
During 2017, Russia was the only nation that launched humans into orbit. Russia continued providing its service, ferrying passengers to the International Space Station (ISS). Of the…
2017 – Chinese Spaceports – Snapshot
In 2017, China continued using its four spaceports for orbital launches: Jiuquan, Taiyuan, Wenchang, and Xichang. The spaceports were involved in a total of . . .
2017 – BeiDou – Snapshot
In 2017, China continued expanding its BeiDou constellation, the nation’s space-based PNT system. Launching two BeiDou satellites, the nation’s share increased to . . .
2017 – Military Satellites – Snapshot
National security drives national efforts to acquire and operate military satellites. While there some exceptions, most military satellites have very similar capabilities as their commercial…
2017 – China Space Station – Snapshot
During 2016, China launched its latest space station, Tiangong-2. Chinese taikonauts lived aboard the new space station for 30 days before returning to…
2017 – Meteorology – Snapshot
Only three satellites with a dedicated meteorological focus were deployed during 2017—less than 1% of 443 spacecraft deployed during that year. It was also a drop from the number of meteorology satellites deployed in previous years. In 2016, the number of meteorology satellites . . .
2017 – Chinese Government Space Budget – Snapshot
The Chinese space budget is not publicly available. However, Chinese capabilities and space projects provide indicators for informed estimates of the nation’s space budget…
2017 – Launch Industry – Snapshot
In 2017, there were 91 launch attempts, 85 of which were successful. Launches procured by commercial satellite operators accounted for . . .
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 ranking from . . .