United Kingdom
2013 – An Evolving Space Industry: Commoditization, Differentiation, and the Rise of Regional Operators
The space industry is evolving, moving from a phase of testing and development in the mid-20th century, to limited satellite coverage and use by specialists in the late 20th century, to ubiquitous coverage and broad consumer adoption in the early 21st century. At the same time, traditional satellite… Thank you for visiting The Space Report!…
2013 – Land Imaging Snapshot
Collectively, land-imaging satellites—which are also known as Earth observation or remote sensing satellites—are systems used to observe, monitor, and track changes and developments on the Earth’s surface using a variety of optical or electronic imaging capabilities. Earth observation satellites may be distinguished from each other on the basis of spatial resolution—the level of detail their images are capable of recording. Another distinction is the sensor type, such as optical cameras, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), or various types of infrared and electronic imaging.
Economy: Space Economy – TSR 2013
Perspective – TSR 2013
2012 – Ground Observatories, Astronomy
Astronomers are laying the groundwork for a new generation of extraordinarily large observatories. The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Telescope will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope ever built. The SKA takes its name from the combined size of the collecting area of the thousands of individual dishes that comprise it, making it far more sensitive than any existing radio telescope.
2012 – Spaceports as an Economic Engine
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the United States’ primary civil spaceport, marked its 50th anniversary in July 2012. The milestone coincides with the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet and related changes in the U.S. human spaceflight program, causing uncertainty in the future utilization … Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The Authoritative Guide…
2012 – United Kingdom Government Space Budget
Civil space activities in the United Kingdom are primarily funded through the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA), which became operational in April 2011. Allocated space budgets for FY 2012/2013, which ran from April 2012 through March 2013, had not been published by the UKSA as of January 2013.
2012 – European Space Agency Budget
ESA operated with a 2012 budget of €## billion (US$## billion), a ##% increase from the 2011 budget of €## billion (US$## billion). As in the prior two years, the largest three ESA funding line items were Earth observation activities at ##%, navigation activities at ##%, and activities related to the Ariane and Vega launch vehicles at ##% of the budget. During 2012, Poland signed a formal Accession Agreement to become ESA’s twentieth member state. Poland’s mandatory contribution as an ESA member will begin to appear in ESA budgets starting in 2013.
2012 – Government Space Budgets Overview
Government space programs accounted for approximately $## billion in spending during 2012, representing ##% of the global space economy. Government investment in space grew by ##% in 2012, a rate lower than the average annual ##% growth rate between 2008 and 2012. The top-line figures, however, do not fully depict how some countries have significantly increased space spending while others have made cuts, as shown in Exhibit 2o below. Governments do not all operate under the same fiscal cycle, so international space spending numbers were derived…
2012 – European Space Industry Employment
The European space workforce includes workers from ## European countries across three segments of the industry: spacecraft, launch, and ground. The five countries with the largest workforces, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain, accounted for more than ##% of the total European space workforce in 2011. The workforce numbers include industries involved in designing, developing, and manufacturing space systems in the spacecraft, launch, and ground sectors. The numbers do not include the workforce of companies developing consumer devices, such as GPS or satellite television receivers, nor do they include employment by companies that carry out space services based on the exploitation of space assets, such as launch service providers.