Questions and Answers: Space Traffic Management

The space traffic management can be identified as methodologies, systems, and rules to perform operations in outer space with utmost safety, security, and sustainability. Since the inception of space era in 1958, approximately 6,000 launched have been made placing nearly 12,000 satellites in orbit. Among those 12,000 satellites, 4852 satellites are active as of 2022. The rest serve as space debris and continue to serve in orbit around earth. More than 20,000 satellites are accounted to be launched from 2021 to 2030, making space a highly congested area. Apart from the dead satellites, rise in number of small and micro-level particles serving as space debris is also threating space operations. More than 1 million space debris between 1cm and 10cm are identified orbiting around earth, and the count is constantly increasing. Increasing congestion in space due to rising number of operational satellites and launch forecast, threat of collision course, overlapping orbits, and debris collision has generated demand for effective space traffic management systems.

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Factors such as space-based connectivity for communication industry, satellite life vehicle extension programs, and internal co-operation between nations to agree on data sharing polices are some of the primary drivers supporting the business opportunities over coming years. Initiatives taken by several regulatory bodies such as European Commission, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and other U.S. federal departments to increase transparency about space operations across nations considering outer space a limited resource will promote orientation of space traffic management system. The companies such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, and Airbus have started offering innovative solution to address the rising threat of space debris and cater the consumer demand for effective space operations. Reduced launch cost due to introduction of re-usable rockets, adoption of smallsats and cubesats, and increase in R&D activities such as geo mapping or establishing a temporary communication network on personal and educational level has generated the demand for end to end space operations service that provide supporting business opportunities.

The average operational life of a satellite in space is around 15 years. Several situations such as damaged components, exhaustion of onboard propellants, minor issues with the propellant system or computer system, and misalignment from the designated orbit can cause the satellite to stop its operations. Exhaustion onboard propellants is one of the primary reasons, satellites are considered to have a limited lifespan of 15 years. The number of satellites currently orbiting earth (dead and operational) is significantly high. Launching new satellites every 15 years adds up to the operational cost of companies and increases the number of dead satellites orbiting the earth, creating more space debris and reducing the chances of safe operations.

To meet these challenges, companies operating within the space traffic management market introduced satellite life extension vehicles, where instead of launching new satellites, an extension will be launched from earth, which will be integrated with existing satellite and replace nonfunctioning components. This practice will reduce space debris generated in space over time while adding 5 to 10 years to satellite operations. As of April 2022, Northrop Grumman leads the satellite life extension vehicle market space followed by several private players. In April 2021, Northrop Grumman along with a subsidiary of SpaceLogistics LLC successfully concluded the docking of Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) with Intelsat 10-02 (IS-10-02). This was the second successful docking mission of a life extension vehicle by the company with a commercial satellite.

KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS

• This study presents the analytical depiction of the global space traffic management market analysis along with the current trends and future estimations to depict imminent investment pockets.
• The overall space traffic management market opportunity is determined by understanding profitable trends to gain a stronger foothold.
• The report presents information related to the key drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the global space traffic management market with a detailed impact analysis.
• The current space traffic management market is quantitatively analyzed from 2020 to 2030 to benchmark the financial competency.
• Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers in the industry.

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