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For new growth, watch this space
Fifty-three years after the first satellite was launched on 4 October 1957, space-faring nations have moved from forming a very exclusive club of technologically advanced countries to a large group of states from every continent with a wide diversity of capabilities.
More than 50 countries have now launched and continuously operate a satellite, and at least 12 more intend to have their first satellite in orbit over the next five years.
Ten countries have so far demonstrated orbital launch capabilities, and seven countries–the US, Russia, China, Japan, India, Israel and Iran–and the European Space Agency (ESA) have independent operational launchers. Both Brazil and Korea aim to develop their own launchers over the next five years.
All are drawn by the unique promise that applying space technologies holds, from information dissemination and broadcasting to remote sensing, as well as the prospect of building skills and know-how.
There is also the fact that space is becoming an essential dimension of today’s world economic infrastructure, and a source of economic growth and new jobs. We’re all used to seeing satellite maps in weather forecasts, but space activities have reached such a stage of maturity that many applications are all around us, with most people probably being unaware of the spaceborne technologies they rely on.
Mobile phone calls bounce off satellites, as do thousands of TV channels. Satellite tracking allows transport companies to locate ships across the world’s oceans, but also to tell us when the next bus is due. Automatic teller machines outside banks check your PIN code and other details via space.
GPS navigation has created a whole new demand for sat-nav equipment and software, with already more than a billion users in 2010. The use of mobile location technologies in automotive and consumer applications, including smart phones, has been growing exponentially since the early 2000s. As pre-installed GPS navigation in vehicles becomes the norm and more consumer devices include navigation chipsets, the $30 billion market for global mobile location technologies could almost double by 2013.
Recommended links and references
OECD work on space: www.oecd.org/futures/space
OECD (2011), The Space Economy at a Glance OECD, Paris.
Jolly, Claire (2008), “Space to grow”, in OECD Observer No 268, June 2008
©OECD Yearbook 2011
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