People across the world are aware of high-profile space programs such as United States’ NASA, Russia’s ROSCOSMOS, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the Chinese National Space Administration CNSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) but the space sector continues to grow as several nations have allowed private players to enter the sector.
Space agencies like SpaceX and Blue Origin who are based around space tourism are now planning to take crewed missions to the ISS and launch satellites but there are only a few countries that have space agencies who are capable of sending satellites or manned missions to space.
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Here is a list of countries which have private space agencies capable of launching spacecrafts, satellites and probes into space:
United States
The United States has several companies which have entered the space sector. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has achieved many firsts as a private company in the space industry.
SpaceX was the first to send astronauts to orbit and to the International Space Station and also the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
It is also known for recovering and reusing its spacecraft and also for mastering the first vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing for an orbital rocket booster.
Along with SpaceX, the US also has Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ founded Blue Origin, which has sent a crewed mission to space and also plans to launch the Blue Moon lander by 2024.
Boeing and the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems also have the ability to send cargo to space. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has already attempted to reach the ISS but it failed due to technical difficulties earlier in 2019. Both Boeing and SNC will be able to launch their CST-100 Starliner and Dream Chaser Space System respectively next year.
The Orbital Science Corporation which has developed the Cygnus is also another private company which is capable of launching rockets and satellites into space. It is now a part of the Northrop Grumman Corporation.
The United Launch Alliance – a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing – is also capable of launching rockets into space.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic owned Virgin Galactic is also capable of sending crewed missions and is planning to launch small satellites into space.
Russia
Russia and the US were the only countries that began the space race during the Cold War era. During Soviet-rule, the control of the space programme lied with the government but after its fall, several private companies have entered the space industry in Russia.
Success Rockets is a Russian company that has the ability to put satellites in space. There are several other companies like Cosmocourse, S7Space, LinIndustrial and Sputnix who are planning to launch crewed missions as well as small satellites to space.
India
India opened the space sector to private players in 2020. Skyroot Aerospace on Friday was the first private company to launch Vikram-suborbital (VKS) into space. The rocket achieved the peak apogee of 89 km, officials said.
Other than Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos and Bellatrix are also in the race to launch payloads into space.
Japan
Japan also has several private companies which plan to or have launched small and large payloads into orbit. Interstellar Technologies and ispace are two companies that are planning to launch not only payloads but also lunar missions within 2023. The MOMO sounding rocket also launched a payload into space.
France and the European Union
France’s ArianeSpace is the among the world’s first commercial launch service providers and boasts the Vega, Soyuz and Ariane 5 rockets which have launched several hundred satellites and other payloads into space.
Its subsidiaries are France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
China
China’s rocket developer Galactic Energy, a Beijing-based aerospace company launched commercial rocket CERES-1 Y2 on December 7 marking its second launch. It first launched a small satellite into space in 2020. Earlier this month, it completed its fifth successful launch.
i-Space is another private Chinese company, which was the first to launch a satellite. In 2019, iSpace launched the Hyperbola-1 and reached low Earth orbit on its first-ever flight.
This is not an exhaustive list, several companies like Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Romanian ARCA Space, Australian Space Research Institute, Borneo SubOrbitals, Germany’s Isar Aerospace and Korean Perigee Aerospace are also planning to launch rockets into space with payloads of varying sizes.
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