Russia
2012 – Chinese Government Space Budget
Responsibility for Chinese space activities is shared by several agencies, including the China National Space Administration (CNSA), which serves as the public civil face of the Chinese space program, and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which operates the country’s overall government space program, including human spaceflight, as well as all Chinese launch facilities. The structure and organization of the Chinese space program are not transparent. This makes obtaining credible data on the Chinese national space enterprise, including budget and organization, difficult.
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 – Demographics
Considering the number of doctoral degrees earned in science and engineering, the European Union has the greatest proportion, followed by China and the United States. As with first university degrees, China has been rapidly increasing the number of doctoral science and engineering degrees granted since the early 2000s.
2012 – Other Space Employment
There are more than 50 countries with space programs in all regions of the world. Although it is not possible to get detailed statistics on many of these groups from year to year, it is possible to gather estimates that give some indication of overall size. Exhibit 4w provides estimates of the size of the space workforce in a variety of national space agencies.
Earth Observation Data in the Russian War on Drugs
Russia is working to use remote sensing data from satellites to identify narcotic plants as they are being cultivated. Researchers hope to distinguish between particular plant species by subtle differences in the way they reflect light.
2012 – Building Space Infrastructure and Achieving Mission Objectives Within Reduced Budgets
Today, nations are under pressure to replace aging satellite infrastructure while continuing to deploy new satellite systems and achieve the related mission objectives within the constraints of tighter budgets. The situation is particularly challenging in the United States, where all government agen… Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The Authoritative Guide to Global Space…
2012 – Space as a Tool of International Trade and Development
Space, Development, and International Trade in Africa Africa’s space sector typifies the dynamics at play in the intersection of space, trade, and development. The African continent is expanding the scale and scope of investments in its space sector. This expansion will include the development of a… Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The Authoritative…
2012 – China Space Stations
China has a long-term and active project to develop a permanently crewed space station in LEO. The first phase of that project started in 2011 with the launch of an experimental space laboratory named Tiangong-1. The spacecraft, which is 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) long and weighs 8,500 kilograms (18,700 pounds), has 15 cubic meters (530 cubic feet) of habitable volume and is equipped with sleeping stations and exercise gear for visiting crews.
2012 – BeiDou
Since 2000, China has been building its own PNT system, known as BeiDou. In December 2011, the Chinese government announced that its initial services—location data and SMS messaging—commenced for users within China. The two-way nature of this system allows the Chinese government to track the position of terrestrial BeiDou users, enabling applications such as asset tracking. Basic services to surrounding regions in Asia were scheduled to commence in 2012.
2012 – GLONASS
After a 15-year hiatus, Russia’s GLONASS PNT system returned to fully operational status in 2011, re-establishing full global coverage. The GLONASS constellation was started by the Soviet Union in 1982 and was briefly operational in 1996 after its ## satellite was deployed. However, due in part to the Russian financial crisis in the 1990s, funding to maintain the network evaporated and it fell into disrepair. Without replacements, the fleet had only ## functioning satellites by 2002.