2008
2008 – Space Stations – Snapshot
Funding for the largest in-space platform, the International Space Station, is included in the government budgets of ISS partners. NASA, the largest contributor, allocated $## billion for the space station in fiscal year (FY) 2008 and requested $## billion for FY 2009. During 2008, two major modules were added to the ISS: the Japanese Kibo, which cost approximately $# billion to develop; and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus, which cost €880 million (US$## billion).
2008 – Satellite Manufacturing – Snapshot
In 2008, ## satellites were launched globally, down from ## satellites in 2007. The total number of satellites for 2008 and 2007 excludes robotic missions to the ISS and crewed missions. The estimated value of commercial and non-commercial satellites decreased by ##%, down to $## billion in 2008 from $## billion in 2007. The decrease in total value can be attributed primarily to a smaller number of high-value government satellites launched as compared to less-costly commercial satellites.
2008 – Launch Industry – Snapshot
The pace of operations in the launch industry was essentially unchanged in 2008 with ## total orbital launches carrying ## payloads. This compares with ## orbital launches in 2007 carrying ## payloads and continues a steady four-year increase in global space launch count. Each Space Shuttle mission is counted as a single payload. Of the ## launches in 2008, ## carried commercial payloads, ## carried non-commercial payloads.
2008 – Commercial Infrastructure and Support Industries – Snapshot
Revenue in 2008 for commercial space infrastructure, including launch vehicles, satellites, in-space platforms, ground equipment, and infrastructure support industries totaled $## billion. Space infrastructure revenue estimates are shown in the exhibit. Government budgets include funding for infrastructure and are addressed separately in Government Space Budgets.
2008 – MSS Satellite Design Activities – Snapshot
A new MSS venture was announced in September 2008. With the backing of $60 million from Google, HSBC, and Liberty Global, the “Other 3 Billion” (O3b) network was introduced. The O3b network targets the three billion consumers living in less developed countries mainly along the equator who do not hav… Thank you for visiting The…
2008 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities – Snapshot
While FSS systems all operate in GEO, mobile satellite service (MSS) systems operate in a range of orbits. Some MSS operators have built their networks using a limited number of GEO satellites. In August 2008, the oldest and largest of these, Inmarsat, launched its ## Inmarsat-4 satellite, establishing global availability of its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service, and bringing the fleet total to ## spacecraft. Another GEO MSS operator, ICO Global, launched its G-1 satellite in April 2008 to provide voice, data, video, and Internet service throughout the United States on mobile and portable devices.
2008 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Satellite Design Activities – Snapshot
Since 2004, the FSS sector has experienced steady increases in the utilization of its satellites, in some regions verging on exhaustion of currently available capacity. The major FSS players report utilization numbers exceeding 90% of available capacity in certain regions such as North America, the … Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The Authoritative…
2008 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities – Snapshot
GEO satellites provide coverage of a wide area from a relatively fixed position, making them ideal for broadcast applications to multiple downlink sites, as well as for networking services to widely dispersed corporate and government facilities. Video distribution, point-to-point video feeds, also known as “backhauls,” and Direct-To-Home (DTH) television services represented three-quarters of total satellite services revenues in 2007.
2008 – Economy – Snapshot
The space industry continued to grow in 2008 with estimated global space revenues and government budgets reaching $## billion. This trend of growth has persisted since the Space Foundation began tracking global budgets and revenues for the industry in 2005. While past years have shown stronger growth, the trend remains positive despite the global economic crisis.
2008 – Education Trends/Methodology – Snapshot
The trends examined in this section of the report are based primarily on U.S. government statistics. The main sources of data include the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.