Interactive Tables and Charts
Data Infrastructure
FAA licensed commercial launches, 2015-2025
The FAA licensed a record 157 commercial space flights in 2024 and estimates it could license as many as 172 this year. But top players in the space industry say the FAA lacks the money and employees it needs to keep pace with space industry growth.
Office of Commercial Space Transportation budget, 2015-2025
Commercial Space Transportation budget. Since 2023, the FAA has been denied increases to fund space efforts. Instead of the $57.1 million the agency requested for space programs, it is operating on $37.5 million it got for 2024 under a continuing resolution.
Office of Commercial Space Transportation workforce, 2015-2025
Overall spending for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation has increased 225% since 2015, as licensed launches increased by 1,910%. In 2015, 106 workers in the Office of Commercial Space Transportation licensed nine launches to orbit. In 2025, the agency estimates it will license 172 launches, with 124 workers.
International Spaceports Map
As the pace of small satellite development and global launches continues to accelerate, nations around the world are developing spaceport policies and courting launch providers and other space industries with the intent of expanding their access to space.
This map shows global spaceports and four-year launch activity at active ports.
Planned future satellite deployment by constellation
A key to space traffic management in the future will be artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, which can sift through massive amounts of data to find valuable insights.
Tracked objects in orbit, in thousands, 1957-2024
Data on orbiting objects, called “the catalog” by the Defense Department, includes all 31,620 objects larger than a basketball that orbit Earth at speeds nearing 18,000 mph.10 The goal is to prevent disastrous high-speed collisions that can spread debris like killer confetti.
Office of Space Commerce employees, 2020-2025
The companies are serving as data quality monitors for the TraCSS program. It’s the biggest program under the Office of Space Commerce and has driven the agency’s growth. The office has quadrupled its workforce since 2020.
Non-Starlink spacecraft by mass range, 2024
Despite many nations and companies transitioning to smaller satellites over the past few years due to their cheaper cost, large satellites also gained popularity last year.
Average spacecraft deployed per launch, 2014-2024
Commercial satellites accounted for just over 87% of payloads in 2024. Civil government and military spacecraft made up the remaining 6.1% and 6.5%, respectively — the first time in five years that military outnumbered civil.
Total spacecraft deployed, 2014-2024
Global spacecraft deployed to orbit in 2024 totaled 2,802, a slight decrease (3%) from 2023. This slowdown comes after a seven-year streak of growing deployments that increased the number of spacecraft brought to orbit by 13 times.