European Multinational Efforts
2017 – Infrastructure
Space infrastructure, like its terrestrial counterpart, is an invisible backbone for services used by people all over the world. Like terrestrial infrastructure, space infrastructure is increasingly relied upon for convenience, services, and national security/defense. If there was an emerging trend during 2017, it is that space infrastructure is . . .
Launch
Whether suborbital or orbital, the world remained busy launching vehicles into space. The distinction between suborbital and orbital launch is very specific. Suborbital launches lack…
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 – European Space Agency Employment
Women make up 21.6% of the European space workforce, a slight . . .
2017 – European Space Industry Employment
In 2016, the European space workforce included 40,419 individuals, according to Eurospace, the European space industry association. Eurospace conducts annual surveys of European firms involved in the design, development, and manufacturing of space assets. It does not include workers associated with the space services industry, including well-known…
2017 – European Space Agency Budget – Snapshot
ESA operated with a 2017 budget of €5.75 billion (US$6.56 billion), a 12.8% increase from . . .
2017 – European Commission Space Budget – Snapshot
A growing share of European public investment in civil space programs is funded by the European Union under the auspices of its executive body, the European Commission (EC). The EC promotes two European flagship space initiatives…
2017 – EUMETSAT Space Budget – Snapshot
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) had a total expenditure of €531.7 million (US$606.8 million) for 2016, the most recent year . . .
2017 – PNT Ground Networks – Snapshot
During 2017, the United States Air Force still conducted operations with decades-old ground equipment. The ground network consisted of 11 command and control antennas and a total of…
2017 – European Spaceports – Snapshot
The European Space Agency (ESA) uses a single spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana. Orbital launch provider Arianespace carried out all…