Methodology
Every number on Space Index traces to a source. This is how we collect it, how we decide what to publish, and how we mark what we are less sure of.
Capture
We pull from public sources: company websites, regulatory filings, federal award records, launch catalogs, and industry press. Every page is archived, so a fact can be traced back to the exact text it came from.
Derive
Each captured page is read for facts. Every fact is tied to the words that prove it, the source it came from, and the date we saw it.
Publish
A fact is published only when its source clears the evidence floor for that field. A funding figure needs stronger proof than a headquarters city. Weaker evidence is held for review, not shown as fact.
Some values carry a small asterisk (*). It marks a value we have published but are less certain of: the evidence is below our high-confidence bar, or we have not yet anchored it to a primary source. The mark rides the label, never the number, and its meaning is repeated in the sources panel on every page that uses it. An unmarked value is one we have anchored to a source we trust for that field.
When two sources disagree, the more authoritative one wins. A correction we make by hand holds until a stronger source supersedes it or it goes stale, then the index re-checks it against the live sources. Nothing is frozen: as the sources update, so does the record.
Companies that were genuinely in space stay in the record after they are acquired or shut down. The index is a historical account of the space economy, not only a snapshot of who is live today.
Spotted a wrong number? Tell us and we will trace it to the source. Use the contact page, or the suggest-edits form on any company profile. See the sources we draw from and how much each one contributes.