Infrastructure


2022 Payload by Orbit

Spacecraft operators worldwide deployed 2,354 spacecraft in 2022, a 36% increase from 2021. Of these payloads, 91% were commercial, the majority coming from broadband mega-constellations like Starlink and OneWeb.

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SNAPSHOT: Lunar Missions

The first attempted lunar mission was the Soviet Union’s Luna 1 impactor, which launched Jan. 2, 1959, and passed within only 5,995 kilometers of the Moon at its closest point. The Space Race brought a large wave of lunar activity in the 1960s, but there have only been a few missions in the decades since.

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As New Solar Cycle Heats Up, Multiple Missions Explore Sun’s Mysteries

The Sun lies at the center of our solar system and sets the cycle of our daily lives, yet so much remains unknown about how it functions. As the Sun enters into a years-long phase of increasing solar eruptions, its increased activity poses risks to thousands of Earth- and space-based infrastructure assets. The increased solar activity comes as probes from NASA, ESA, and China are gathering the most advanced data ever collected about Earth’s star

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International Space Station Damage Triggers Apparent Detente

A micrometeorite the width of a pencil tip sliced through a Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station at nearly 16,000 mph, wrecking a radiator for the spacecraft’s computers and delaying the return of three astronauts in orbit by months, officials from NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos said during a rare joint news conference Wednesday.

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Launch Log, 2023

Interested in this year's global space launch vehicle activity? Keep track of orbital launch trends with our 2023 launch log. Launch data is updated every day during weekdays, excluding U.S. holidays.Interested in this year's global space launch vehicle activity? Keep track of orbital launch trends with our 2023 launch log. Launch data is updated every day during weekdays, excluding U.S. holidays.

Interested in this year’s global space launch vehicle activity? Keep track of orbital launch trends with our 2023 launch log. Launch data is updated every day during weekdays, excluding U.S. holidays.

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