2024 was a record year in terms of the number of orbital flights. Never before in history have we sent so many loads into space, and the greatest credit for this is due to SpaceX, which is responsible for more than half of all launches.
One might complain that since the Apollo missions, the space industry has been stagnant. More than 50 years have passed since the last human visit to the Silver Globe. However, this is not a fair comparison, because as the numbers show, it has never been as good as now. The number of space flights in 2024 increased by as much as 17%. Much of this is due to one company, but it must be remembered that space is no longer the domain of superpowers. Private companies have more and more say and they will probably shape the future development of the space industry.
259 flights in 2024
According to the portal’s calculations SpaceNewsexactly 259 orbital flights took place in 2024. 38 more (17%) than in the previously record year of 2023. This number does not include, among others, the four suborbital flights of the Starship or a mission like HASTE carried out by Rocket Lab and the flights of the New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin. More than half of all space missions were carried out by one company – SpaceX, which performed 134 of this type of operations, mostly using the Falcon 9 rocket. It is mainly thanks to the company that the result this year was so much improved, because SpaceX carried out 38 more flights than in 2023 (96). The plan was still more ambitious, as it included up to 148 starts.
Most SpaceX launches took place from Florida, where the company has two launch pads (88 launches). Another 46 missions were flown from California’s Vanderberg base. The plan for 2025 is even more ambitious, because according to Gwen Shotwell’s announcement, SpaceX is aiming for 175-180 Falcon launches this year. In addition, there will probably also be the first orbital flights of the SuperHeavy/Starship tandem, which should make another test flight in a few days. The remaining American companies carried out only 20 launches, 13 of which were by Rocket Lab, which has its main launch base in New Zealand.
SpaceX, China and nothing for a long time
The second force in the space industry is China, which carried out a record number of 68 launches in 2024. This is one more than last year and preparation for an even busier 2025. The next places are Russia (17 starts), Japan (7), India (5), Iran (4) and North Korea (1). Interestingly, the European Space Agency carried out only three launches in 2024, the Ariane-6 test flight and two launches of the smaller Vega/Vega-C rocket. It is also worth noting that the Russians have fired a missile, which is a derivative of the R-7 ballistic missile, for the 2,000th time. It was on this base that the Soyuz was created, which transports, among others, astronauts to the International Space Station. This also means that Russia is still using rockets created in the 1950s and 1960s and is significantly behind in terms of innovations in the space industry.
The number of space flights should increase again this year. If SpaceX sticks to its plans, we should exceed 300 launches. Blue Origin, which will send the New Glenn rocket into space in a few days, can help with this. The rivalry between the two American billionaires should intensify, because New Glenn will also be a reusable rocket and may constitute strong competition for Falcon 9. He will also have a lot of work, because he will be responsible for, among other things, the construction of the Kuiper constellation, an Amazon project that is to compete with with Starlink.
The coming years will certainly be very interesting in the space industry, and let’s hope that Poland will also mark its presence there.
Source: antyweb.pl
