2015
2015 – GPS – Snapshot
The U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite fleet made up 34% of the operational global positioning, navigation, and timing fleets orbiting the Earth in 2015. Originally developed for military use, GPS became fully operational in the spring of 1995, marking 2015 as the 20th anniversary for the constellation. This meant the satellite constellation consisted of a minimum of 24 GPS satellites in their assigned medium Earth orbits after the completion of several tests. Since it became fully operational, the constellation number annually exceeds the baseline requirement by a good margin, not including eight backup GPS satellites.
2015 – Orbital Launch Reports and Forecasts – Snapshot
The activities of three nations were responsible for nearly 76% of all of the world’s orbital SLV launches in 2015. Russia alone carried out 30% of the global orbital space launches, followed by the United States with a little more than 23%, and China with 22%. Compared to 2014, the number of orbital payload launches in 2015 dropped by six to 86.
2015 – Annual Infrastructure – Snapshot
Space infrastructure is a fundamental prerequisite for all activities that make use of space. It comprises all the hardware, software, and operators responsible for creating and supporting the construction, launch, and deployment of spacecraft. Recent years have seen a substantial broadening of the parties involved in building infrastructure: new spaceports are being proposed and developed, the number of small satellites has risen dramatically (often operated by startup companies), and launch companies are developing a wide variety of rockets to serve the entire range of spacecraft sizes currently in use. Although it is unlikely that all of the current ventures will prove successful in both a technical and economic sense, there are many reasons to expect that the industry will benefit overall from the new capabilities that flourish in the years to come.
2015 – South Korean Government Space Budget – Snapshot
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) had a 2015 budget of 618.7 billion won (US$553.2 million), an increase of 21.4% from its budget in FY 2014 of 509.6 billion won (US$503.7 million).
2015 – Russian Government Space Budget – Snapshot
Russia’s space budget has suffered due to the country’s broader economic crisis. Officials of Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency, announced in December 2015 that,,,
2015 – European Space Industry Employment – Snapshot
The European space workforce included 38,435 workers in 2015, according to Eurospace, an association of the European space manufacturing industry. Eurospace conducts annual surveys of European firms involved…
2015 – U.S. National Security Workforce – Snapshot
The United States maintains a large national security space workforce to support space activities in the DoD and intelligence agencies. Although all of the military branches maintain space…
2015 – Japanese Government Space Budget – Snapshot
Civil space activities in Japan are coordinated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which is funded primarily through the Ministry for Education, Culture…
2015 – Israeli Government Space Budget – Snapshot
The Israel Space Agency (ISA) is in charge of civil and commercial space activities, which are estimated at US$1 billion for 2015. It also coordinates closely with…
2015 – NASA Workforce – Snapshot
At the start of FY 2016, NASA’s workforce was made up of 17,316 individuals. This is a decrease of 415 employees, or 2.3%, compared to the start of FY 2015. Since reaching a high in FY 2011, NASA has shed 1,428 employees, 7.6% of its workforce.