Space Transportation
Main article: Space transportation See also: Point-to-point sub-orbital spaceflightThe commercial space transportation industry derives the bulk of its revenue from the launching of satellites into the Earth’s orbit. Commercial launch providers typically place private and government satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). In 2002, commercial space transportation generated 6.6 billion dollars, which made up 6% of the total gross of commercial space activities.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has licensed four commercial spaceports in the United States: the Virginia Space Flight Center/Wallops Flight Facility, Kodiak Launch Complex, Spaceport Florida/Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and the California Spaceport/Vandenberg AFB. Launch sites within Russia and China have added to the global commercial launch capacity. The Delta IV and Atlas V family of launch vehicles are made available for commercial ventures for the United States, while Russia promotes eight families of vehicles. The three largest Russian systems are the Proton, Soyuz, and Zenit.
Between 1996 and 2002, 245 launches were made for commercial ventures while government (non-classified) launches only total 167 for the same period. Commercial space flight has spurred investment into the development of an efficient reusable launch vehicle (RLV) which can place larger payloads into orbit. Several companies such as SpaceX are currently creating new RLV designs.
Read more about this topic: Commercialization Of Space
Famous quotes containing the word space:
“The merit of those who fill a space in the world’s history, who are borne forward, as it were, by the weight of thousands whom they lead, shed a perfume less sweet than do the sacrifices of private virtue.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)