Space launch market competition is the manifestation of market forces in the launch service provider business. In particular it is the trend of competitive dynamics among payload transport capabilities at diverse prices having a greater influence on launch purchasing than the traditional political considerations of country of manufacture or the national entity using, regulating or licensing the launch service.
Following the advent of spaceflight technology in the late 1950s, space launch services came into being, exclusively by national programs. Later in the 20th century commercial operators became important customers of launch providers. International competition for the communications satellite payload subset of the launch market was increasingly influenced by commercial considerations. However, even during this period, for both commercial- and government-entity-launched commsats, the launch service providers for these payloads used launch vehicles built to government specifications, and with state-provided development funding exclusively.
In the early 2010s, five decades after humans first developed spaceflight technology, privately-developed launch vehicle systems and space launch service offerings emerged. Companies now faced economic incentives rather than the principally political incentives of the earlier decades. The space launch business experienced a dramatic lowering of per-unit prices along with the addition of entirely new capabilities, bringing about a new phase of competition in the space launch market.
In 2024 it was reported that, counting all global spaceflight and launch activity, SpaceX, utilizing its Falcon family of rockets had launched close to 87% of all upmass on Earth in the year 2023.[1]
^"It's a SpaceX World (Everyone Else is Playing Catch-up)". Astralytical | Expert Space Industry Consultants. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
and 29 Related for: Space launch market competition information
Spacelaunchmarketcompetition is the manifestation of market forces in the launch service provider business. In particular it is the trend of competitive...
to National Security SpaceLaunch (NSSL) to better reflect the growing commercial launchmarket and the changing nature of launch contracts, including...
for standard launch services, have brought about significant spacelaunchmarketcompetition that had not been present previously. By 2012, a private company...
The SpaceLaunch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis Moon...
Loren (October 1, 2020). "NASA is about to launch an upgraded microgravity toilet to the International Space Station". The Verge. Retrieved October 3,...
escape velocity of the Milky Way, and are traveling out into intergalactic space. There are several theories for their existence. One of the mechanisms would...
exploration of the Solar System Launch vehicle List of crewed spacecraft Outer spaceSpace exploration Spacelaunchmarketcompetition Timeline of private spaceflight...
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX currently manufactures...
Space Force National Security SpaceLaunch (NSSL) program. By September 2017, Bezos had invested US$2.5 billion into New Glenn. Spacelaunchmarket competition...
Bolonkin (2005). Non Rocket SpaceLaunch and Flight. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-08-044731-5 "NASA Team Claims 'Impossible' Space Engine Works—Get the Facts"...
resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States Spacelaunchmarket competition...
the United States and Soviet Union were planning, but had yet to launch humans into space, NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan and his Deputy Administrator...
cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle (carrier rocket). On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a space vehicle enters space and then returns...
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider, defense contractor...
cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent...
Force (USAF) space community and between the two EELV launch service providers due to competition in the shrinking spacelaunchmarket, cost increases...
SpaceX has privately funded the development of orbital launch systems that can be reused many times, similar to the reusability of aircraft. SpaceX has...
suppliers. ULA was also facing competition from SpaceX—then seen to affect its core national security market of US military launches—and by July 2014, Congress...
2015. OneSpace is led by CEO Shu Chang, and is targeting the small launchermarket for microsatellites and nanosatellites. OneSpacelaunched China's first...
aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to over 75 countries. It also aims to provide global mobile broadband. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites...
that SpaceX prices are undercutting the major competitors in the commercial commsat launchmarket—the Ariane 5 and Proton-M—at which time SpaceX had at...
Moon. Masten Mission One would have been Masten's first space flight; it was scheduled for launch in November 2023. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
environment. Competition is a major tenet of market economies and business, often associated with business competition as companies are in competition with at...
periods aboard space stations such as Mir and the ISS. Most recently, China has emerged as the third nation with the capability to launch independent crewed...
disintegrated and NASA no longer had any direct competition. Since then, participation in spacelaunches has increasingly widened to include more governments...
satellite in orbit. China has one of the most active space programs in the world. With spacelaunch capability provided by the Long March rocket family...
Falcon 1 was a small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On 28 September 2008, Falcon...
of the in-development Starship launch system. In 2004, Bigelow Aerospace established a competition called America's Space Prize, which offered a $50 million...