Interactive Tables and Charts

Data Infrastructure


Launch Attempts and Deployed Payloads, 1983-2022

Two items stand out as primary examples of astronomers’ concerns: the SpaceX Starlink constellation due to its number of satellites and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite due to its size — 693 square feet6 — which ranks as the largest commercial communications array in space.

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Launch Failure Rate 2019-2023

The frenetic pace of launch in 2023 also brought a higher number of launch failures, with 11 rockets failing to make orbit, of them in spectacular fashion.

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Launch Attempts by Country and Category, 2023

The United States launched 11 military missions in the year, including payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office and a new generation of small communications satellites for the Space Development Agency. Russia launched 10 civil government missions in 2023, including Soyuz launches to send crews to the International Space Station, which remains one area of cooperation between the Kremlin and NASA. India made headlines with its successful launch of a lunar probe while the European Space Agency, awaiting its new Ariane-6 launch vehicle, launched three spacecraft including its Euclid space observatory.

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Launch Attempts by Category, 2014-2023

Commercial launches represented 54% of all 2023 launches. Over the past decade, the number of commercial launches has seen a six-fold increase while military and civil government missions have stayed comparatively flat.

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Launch Attempts by Select Nations, 2022-2023

The record number of launches came despite delays that pushed the debuts of several long-anticipated launch vehicles into 2024. It was the third consecutive year to shatter launch records, despite a decline in European and Russian launches.

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Orbital Launch Attempts, 1957-2023

The number of U.S. launch at- tempts climbed from 87 in 2022 to 116 last year. The number of U.S. launches has more than doubled since 2021, which saw 51 launch attempts.

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Total Spacecraft by Mission Segment, 2020-2023 

The number of satellites in all three mission segments grew by double digits in 2023, with civil government payloads growing most rapidly (74% year-over-year). Over the past four years, the size of all mission segments has more than doubled. Commercial payloads once again made up the largest proportion of deployments in 2023 thanks to mega-constellations such as Starlink.

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Japanese Launch Attempts, 2013-2023

One problem area for Japan is the possibility of a gap in reliable access to space. The nation is one of 10 capable of orbital launch, but its launch activity is relativity infrequent.

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Spacecraft by Mass Range, 2023

The known mass of spacecraft deployed last year was 1.4 million kg, 42% more than 2022. This total does not include masses for satellites without publicly available information, including many classified U.S., Chinese, and Russian military satellites. Excluding these uncategorized satellites, the average payload mass in 2023 was 550 kg.

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