Infrastructure
Launch
2010 – China’s Launch Efforts – Snapshot
China began the year with only a few missions publicly disclosed, but a series of unannounced launches in the second half of the year made 2010 China’s busiest year ever in terms of launch activity, exceeding its previous national record of ## launches in 2008. While China had only launched ## rockets by the end of July, it carried out ## launches in the following three months.
2010 – Russia’s Launch Effort – Snapshot
The Russian space program maintained its historically high launch rate while continuing development of its new spaceport and launch vehicles. Over the course of 2010, Russia conducted ## orbital launches, up from ## in 2009, using such longstanding vehicles as the Proton and Soyuz. Russia is developing ## new rocket systems to meet its needs for the future and is also working to launch the Soyuz 2 rocket from the existing European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
2010 – U.S. Launch Efforts – Snapshot
The U.S. launch industry sustained a healthy rate of launches and saw the successful debut of ## new rockets, the Falcon 9 and the Minotaur IV. The United States accounted for ## launches in 2010, below the 2009 level of ## launches but comparable to its 2005-2009 average of ## launches a year.
2010 – Orbital Launch Reports and Forecasts – Snapshot
Launch vehicles can be grouped into two categories. The first consists of vehicles that can propel their payloads fast enough at a sufficient altitude to achieve orbit. A launch vehicle that is unable to place a payload in orbit, but can still carry a payload into space, is referred to as a suborbital launch vehicle.
2010 – U.S. Human Launch Efforts – Snapshot
Certain spaceflight systems, including both the launch vehicle and its spacecraft payload, can be used to carry humans into space. Such flights amount to a small portion of all space missions—in 2010 only ## of the year’s ## launches carried people.
2010 – Spaceports – Snapshot
Launch sites, commonly called spaceports, host the launches of orbital and suborbital vehicles and, in some cases, the return of spacecraft from space. Spaceports take many forms, from sprawling, dedicated complexes such as Baikonur in Kazakhstan, to specialized ships floating in the Pacific Ocean, such as Sea Launch’s Odyssey.
Infrastructure: Space Infrastructure – TSR 2010
2009 – Suborbital Payload Launch – Snapshot
There is growing interest in suborbital reusable launch vehicles to conduct experiments and research. Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California, is developing the Extreme Altitude series of unmanned suborbital vehicles to carry experimental payloads. The company is offering to launch payloads at a price of $## per kilogram ($## per pound), or a “Sodasat” payload for $##, so named because its size and mass is similar to that of a can of soda.
2009 – Non U.S. Launch and Payload – Snapshot
The Sea Launch consortium operates a derivative of the Ukrainian Zenit 2 rocket, modified with Russian and American components and used by Sea Launch as its standard booster since the company’s first launch in 1999. The Zenit-3SL rocket launches from Sea Launch’s ocean platform. A variant of this system, the Zenit-3SLB, launches from the Zenit pad at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
2009 – Japan Launch and Payload – Snapshot
In contrast to countries that fill various space-launch niches with an array of different rocket types, Japan has chosen to focus its rocket development efforts by progressively enhancing and refining older rockets. The H-IIA and H-IIB are the current manifestations of these efforts.