Infrastructure
2007 – China Launch, Payload
China has announced plans to develop the Long March 5 heavy rocket.
2007 – Japan Launch, Payload
Japan plans to replace the former M-V launch vehicle, which was active as recently as 2006, with an advanced solid rocket.
2007 – Europe Launch, Payload
The European Space Agency is developing a small launch vehicle, Vega, which will be operated by Arianespace.
2007 – India Launch, Payload
India is developing a heavy lift launch vehicle, the GSLV Mk-III, with a test flight planned in 2009 or 2010.
2007 – U.S. Launch, Payload
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 2008 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts: Vehicles, Technologies, and Spaceports report notes that a variety of orbital vehicles, shown in Exhibit 3f, are currently in development. Vehicles are classified by type either as expendable launch vehicles (ELV) or reusable launch vehicles (RLV). Please note that the FAA lists the Falcon 1 as developmental, even though it has been declared operational by its manufacturer. The vehicles in the upper portion of the exhibit have initial launch dates under contract.
2007 – Ground Networks
Ground station infrastructure is a key component of space systems providing command control, tracking, and telemetry services for launch vehicles, satellites, and other platforms. Worldwide tracking systems operated by government agencies support launch command and control. In addition, space situational awareness systems like the U.S. Space Surveillance Network track space debris and assist with collision avoidance.
2007 – U.S. Spaceports
Oklahoma Spaceport received an FAA license for suborbital flights in June 2006. Blue Origin, founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, received an experimental permit in 2006 for its West Texas launch site. The first test flight from Blue Origin’s facility was conducted on November 13 of the same year.
2007 – Spaceports Overview
The availability of U.S. launch sites continued to expand in 2006 and 2007 with the addition of several non-federally funded spaceports. Internationally, there are numerous launch sites both planned and in operation around the world. Exhibit 3n lists current major international launch sites as compiled by the Teal Group and Astronautix.
2007 – Russia Launch, Human
The Clipper (Kliper) vehicle, under design by Russia’s Energia, has not yet found a customer. Clipper may become a follow-on to the Soyuz vehicle, and has attracted interest from the European Space Agency (ESA) for ISS access. In 2006, Anatoly Perminov, the director of Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), said the agency planned to start construction of the vehicle in 2012.
2007 – U.S. Launch, Human
NASA announced SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler as the winners of the COTS competition in August 2006. The goal of the competition is to develop commercial delivery services for the International Space Station (ISS), distributing research and development funds to be combined with private capital.