Common questions about the space economy
Short, citable answers paired with live links to companies on Space Index. Updated as the industry changes.
- How many space launches happen per year? Global orbital launches passed 200 a year for the first time in 2023 and have set a new record every year since, reaching more than 320 in 2025, about triple the 2020 rate. SpaceX flies around half of…
- Which companies are building lunar landers? Commercial lunar landers are being built by Intuitive Machines, Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, ispace, Draper, and (for crewed missions) SpaceX and Blue Origin. Most of the robotic landers are flown u…
- Who are the major Earth observation companies? The major commercial Earth observation companies are Planet (optical), Maxar Technologies (optical, very-high-resolution), Capella Space (synthetic-aperture radar), BlackSky (rapid-revisit optical), S…
- How do satellite constellations work? A satellite constellation is a coordinated group of satellites flying in synchronised orbits to provide continuous coverage. Each satellite handles a slice of the globe, and as one moves out of view a…
- What's the difference between LEO, MEO, and GEO? LEO, MEO, and GEO are three altitude bands above Earth. LEO (Low Earth Orbit) sits between ~160 and 2,000 km: fast, close, cheap to reach. MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) covers 2,000 to 35,786 km and is hom…
- How does launch service pricing work? Commercial launch is priced per kilogram to a specific orbit, with discounts for rideshare slots and dedicated missions priced as a single charter. Published prices range from a few thousand dollars p…
- What are space tugs and who builds them? A space tug, also called an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) or last-mile delivery vehicle, is a small spacecraft that takes payloads from a rideshare drop-off orbit to their custom destination. Major b…
- What is rideshare in spaceflight? Rideshare is a launch arrangement where multiple payloads from different customers share one rocket. Instead of each satellite buying a whole vehicle, an integrator books the rocket and resells slots …
- How much has been invested in in-space manufacturing? Public reporting puts cumulative private investment in in-space manufacturing (ISM) at roughly $1-2 billion through 2025, concentrated in a small number of companies pursuing pharmaceuticals, fibre op…
- Which space companies are publicly traded? Publicly traded space companies as of 2026 include the established defence primes (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, L3Harris, RTX), pure-play space companies that went public via SPAC or IPO…
- Who are the largest US federal space contractors? The largest US federal space contractors are the prime defence integrators (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, and L3Harris) alongside dedicated space players like SpaceX, Maxar, and…