2023
Astronauts by Mission Count
In more recent years, commercial spaceflight operators have led another wave of new activity, this time targeting private astronauts and tourists primarily taking suborbital trips to space.
6-Month Average Employment Growth, H1 2021-H1 2023
Compared to the total labor market, space industry job growth appears to be speeding up again despite similar initial slowdowns, according to data from the first half of this year.
JAXA Workforce, 2013-2023
Japan is continuing its efforts to promote the growth of new entrepreneurial space efforts. Proposed legislation in Japan would allow JAXA to create a fund to invest in private-sector businesses.
European Nations Lead with Space Workforce Growth from 2021 to 2022
Trends in the size and composition of the global space workforce provide a lens into the health and trajectory of the industry. While many countries do not collect or release data on their space workforce, several major space actors, including the United States, Europe, Japan, and India, publish this information annually.
SNAPSHOT: Human Spaceflight
From the early days of the space race, sending humans to space has always been a key priority. The International Space Station (ISS) has maintained a continuous human presence in orbit for more than 20 years, and microgravity research on space stations has provided valuable insight for future long-term human missions in space.
As Global Satellite Data Expands, Companies Develop AI for Initial Analysis
While most people may think of ChatGPT or deep fake images when they hear “artificial intelligence”, AI methodologies are proving beneficial for a wide variety of applications, especially in data-heavy industries such as Earth observation.
India’s Lunar Landing Highlights Renewed Race to Moon
When Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole, India took center stage in a new Space Race to the Moon. In the coming years, China, Russia, Japan, India, and the U.S. all plan on missions to the Moon.
New Race to the Moon Geostrategic Issues Dwarf Former US-Soviet Rivalry
Until December 2013, when China’s Yutu rover rolled onto the lunar surface, the United States and Russia were smug in being the only countries to successfully land spacecraft on the Moon. That exclusive club was just blown open in August 2023 by the historic success of India’s Vikram lander reaching the Moon’s south pole.
Growing Orbital Dangers Drive U.S. ASAT Proposal, Strategic Questions
U.S. leaders have noted growing threats in space from satellites designed to manipulate, damage, destroy or even hijack orbital targets, ground-based lasers and creative hackers.
Scotland’s Bold Plans Seek to Rule European Space Markets
With expertise in small satellites and coastal launch facilities under construction, Scotland aims to capture nearly $5 billion of the global space economy by 2030. It’s a rapid transformation for a country within the United Kingdom that had virtually no space firms 20 years ago and now boasts more than 8,000 space workers.