The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2016

Executive Summary

The size of the global space industry, which combines satellite services and ground equipment, government space budgets, and global navigation satellite services (GNSS) equipment, is estimated to be about $324 billion. At $95 billion in revenues, or about 29 percent, satellite television represents the largest segment of activity. Following this is government space budgets at $76 billion, or 24 percent, and services enabled by GNSS represent, about $76 billion in revenues. Commercial satellite remote sensing companies generated on $1.6 billion in revenues, but the value added services enabled by these companies is believed to be magnitudes larger. Because remote sensing value added services includes imagery and data analytics from other sources beyond space-based platforms, only the satellite remote sensing component is included in the global space industry total.

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UPDATE:  The full House approved the measure by a vote of 376 to 5. So, it’s now a matter of whether Congress will approve the House’s 1-year extension or a 3-year extension being promoted by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).

The House Science Committee has approved a one-year extension of the launch liability indemnification law. Under the measure, commercial launch providers must cover third-party losses up to $500 million. The government will step in to pay any losses from $500 million to $1.5 billion. Anything above that level reverts back to the company.

The measure now goes to the full House.  Sen. Bill Nelson is working on his own bill for a three-year extension of the liability law. Those measure will have to be reconciled in a conference committee.

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Space Florida Launch Bill Stuck on the Pad, Sponsor Says
Orlando Sentinel

Space Florida, the state’s fledgling aerospace economic development agency, has been trying for weeks to jump-start a proposal to help it promote the commercial launch pad it hopes to market to would-be space-flight companies…

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The magazine Der Spiegel has a very good story about the future of Kazakhstan’s Baikonur launch complex. It centers on International Launch Services president Frank McKenna, an American who helps to oversee commercial launches from the formerly supersecret Soviet spaceport where Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin roared into history 50 years ago.

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NASA is considering whether to set aside about 200 acres of land at Kennedy Space Center land for private companies to construct their own launch pads. “We at NASA are in the launch business here at Kennedy, so it makes sense,” said NASA Public Affairs spokesman Allard Beutel. Read the full story at Central Florida News 13. Florida Today has also weighed in on the effort. In an editorial, the […]