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1 1 (June 2, 2016)

handle is hein.crs/govcdys0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF.ri E~$~ & June 2, 2016 Changes in the U.S. Commercial Space Industry Rockets, satellites, and the services they provide, once the domain of governments, are increasingly launched and managed by privately owned companies as well. Commercial activities accounted for 76% of the $330 billion spent on global space activities in 2014, according to the Space Foundation. Governments and companies in more than two dozen countries have built and launched an orbital payload, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that the United States was responsible for about 38% of total global space spending in 2014. The space economy is made up of both commercial and government components. Commercial products and services are generated by companies providing launch services, manufacturing satellites and ground equipment, and operating satellites; government investments in space make up the rest of space economy spending. Typically, commercial launch providers are also manufacturers, designing and assembling the rockets they use. Service providers (such as television broadcasters) may design and build their own satellites, or may purchase them from third- party manufacturers. The U.S. space industry supply chain has changed in recent years as new forms of competition have arisen. Launch vehicle manufacturers produced vehicles only under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) or the Department of Defense (DOD) until 1982. Until then, the U.S. government launched all civil and commercial payloads into orbit. Now commercial payloads are increasingly launched by private providers, including long-standing aerospace contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and new entrants such as Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. Commercial space technology services include * communications systems utilizing satellites to transmit television signals (satellite television alone accounts for almost a third of all space-related commercial activity), in-flight calls from airplane passengers, and some smartphone data; * environmental monitoring of oceans, forests, deserts, wildlife habitats, and natural disasters; * weather applications monitoring hurricanes and El Nino on a global scale, as well as measuring soil water content to assist in prediction of droughts and floods; * transportation uses providing geolocation services to delivery trucks and ride-sharing services and their passengers; and * enhancements of safety by providing data to first responders at oil spills and forest fires and preventing train collisions with geolocation services. Satellites are placed into different types of Earth orbits depending on their planned use: low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), and high Earth orbit (HEO) (Figure 1). The altitude of the orbit determines the spacecraft's speed around Earth, with those closer moving more quickly. Some types of space activities require closer proximity to Earth for supply and maintenance and to provide higher-resolution images of Earth. Others operate further in space to more effectively deploy their services. The International Space Station (ISS), in LEO, for example, takes just 90 minutes for a full orbit, while a television or weather satellite in GEO will take a full day. A satellite in geosynchronous orbit matches Earth's rotational speed, so unlike other types of satellites, it will remain in the same place above Earth. GEO enables a satellite to monitor the same locations for changes in weather or to facilitate telecommunications. Figure I. Types of Earth Orbits Source: CRS. Three developments are changing the shape of the commercial space industry: a shift in government space activities toward the use of commercial services, new entrants with new launch products, and an increase in the launch of small satellites. During the final years of the space shuttle program, NASA encouraged and funded commercial providers to develop systems that could transport crew and cargo to the ISS. The first of these were the SpaceX Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, which have ferried supplies to the ISS since 2012. Last year, four ISS cargo launches were conducted by K~:> gognpo 'pop\qm ggmm g , q 'S a X 11LULANJILiN,

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