China
Spacecraft Mission Segment Shares by Nation
2021 analysis shows how strongly communications spacecraft deployments continued to dominate payload launches.
Launch Attempts by Country and Mission Sector, 2021
This interactive chart tracks 2021 launch attempts and shows that commercial launches have become the largest mission sector in the United States.
Total Orbital Launch Attempts by China and U.S., 2012-2021
From 2012 to 2021, as China’s space program has matured, it has traded dominance with the United States on annual orbital launch attempts.
Global Orbital Launch Attempts, 2021
Seven nations conducted orbital launches in 2021, with China, the United States and Russia continuing a years-long lead in launch activity.
2021 TSRQ4 – Commercial Spacecraft Boost Payload Deployment to New High
Unprecedented numbers of spacecraft were deployed during 2021. For the year, space operators successfully deployed 1,730 spacecraft, an increase of 29% from 2020’s deployments of 1,340. Companies and operators from 33 nations took part. . .
Asteroid Mining: Potential Develops, but so do Regulatory, Technical Issues
Mankind could soon be able to exploit asteroids to obtain natural resources for use on Earth, gather ingredients for missions in space, and support habitation on the Moon and Mars.
Launch Analysis: 2021 Sets Record for Successful Orbital Launches
Successful launches soared past annual records in 2021 with 134, beating out the previous record of 128 launches, last met in 1984. Chinese launches grew by. . .
2021 TSRQ4 – The Next Space Stations: Building Blocks of an Orbital Economy
The low Earth orbit (LEO) economy is developing rapidly, and new infrastructure will help LEO activity continue to grow. While the International Space Station (ISS) is nearing the end of its life, there are . . .
2021 TSR – Space Symposium Special Edition: A Growing Ecosystem: The SmallSat Economy
Between 2011 and 2021, commercial business in the global space industry experienced profound changes in the small satellite (SmallSat) sector. In less than 10 years, an ecosystem expanded, catering to commercial SmallSat operators. The sector . . .
2021 TSR – Space Symposium Special Edition: Despite Pandemic, Double-digit Growth in 2020 in Some Commercial Sectors
Commercial space activity, undertaken by private industry with little or no government investment, accounts for more than 79.8% of the global space economy. Despite the global pandemic, commercial space revenues continue to . . .