Snapshot
2017 – U.S. Human Launch – Snapshot
The last U.S. human space launch was conducted in 2011. NASA now relies on Russia’s Soyuz space launch system, paying hundreds of millions of dollars to transport U.S. astronauts to…
2017 – European Space Agency Budget – Snapshot
ESA operated with a 2017 budget of €5.75 billion (US$6.56 billion), a 12.8% increase from . . .
2017 – European Commission Space Budget – Snapshot
A growing share of European public investment in civil space programs is funded by the European Union under the auspices of its executive body, the European Commission (EC). The EC promotes two European flagship space initiatives…
2017 – EUMETSAT Space Budget – Snapshot
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) had a total expenditure of €531.7 million (US$606.8 million) for 2016, the most recent year . . .
2017 – PNT Ground Networks – Snapshot
During 2017, the United States Air Force still conducted operations with decades-old ground equipment. The ground network consisted of 11 command and control antennas and a total of…
2017 – GPS – Snapshot
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) managed 31 operational GPS satellites during 2017, seven more than the minimum 24 GPS satellites required for effective operations. Even though the U.S. number of . . .
2017 – European Spaceports – Snapshot
The European Space Agency (ESA) uses a single spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana. Orbital launch provider Arianespace carried out all…
2017 – GLONASS – Snapshot
Russia’s share of operational PNT satellites increased from 21% in 2016 to 26% in 2017. Operating the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the nation was tied with . . .
2017 – QZSS – Snapshot
After seven years of single-satellite operations for the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Japan’s PNT constellation, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched . . .
2017 – Navigation with Indian Constellation – Snapshot
India completed the first part of a two-phase plan during 2016, fielding a constellation of seven Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) PNT satellites. The constellation was . . .