China
2018 – Workforce: Space Workforce
The global space industry employs hundreds of thousands of individuals in well-paid cutting-edge technology jobs, and it relies on a pool of highly qualified workers to fill new jobs as they arise. Trends among this workforce, including its size, age breakdown, average pay . . .
2018 – Infrastructure: Space Infrastructure
Space infrastructure, like its terrestrial counterpart, is an invisible backbone for services used by people all over the world. Like terrestrial infrastructure, space infrastructure is increasingly relied upon for convenience, services, and . . .
2018 – Economy: Space Economy
The global space industry grew 7.4% in 2017, reaching a total of $383.5 billion. This continues a broad upward trend that spans more than a decade. Traditional sectors for space commerce have continued to grow and are . . .
2017 – Infrastructure
Space infrastructure, like its terrestrial counterpart, is an invisible backbone for services used by people all over the world. Like terrestrial infrastructure, space infrastructure is increasingly relied upon for convenience, services, and national security/defense. If there was an emerging trend during 2017, it is that space infrastructure is . . .
Launch
Whether suborbital or orbital, the world remained busy launching vehicles into space. The distinction between suborbital and orbital launch is very specific. Suborbital launches lack…
2017 – Government Space Budgets
Global government spending increased in 2017, totaling $76.2 billion, up from $72.7 billion in 2016. Government spending accounted for 19.9% of the global space economy . . .
2017 – Human Space Launch
During 2017, Russia was the only nation that launched humans into orbit. Russia continued providing its service, ferrying passengers to the International Space Station (ISS). Of the…
2017 – Chinese Spaceports – Snapshot
In 2017, China continued using its four spaceports for orbital launches: Jiuquan, Taiyuan, Wenchang, and Xichang. The spaceports were involved in a total of . . .
2017 – BeiDou – Snapshot
In 2017, China continued expanding its BeiDou constellation, the nation’s space-based PNT system. Launching two BeiDou satellites, the nation’s share increased to . . .
2017 – Military Satellites – Snapshot
National security drives national efforts to acquire and operate military satellites. While there some exceptions, most military satellites have very similar capabilities as their commercial…