Key space-related figures for selected countries

In 2022, the number of national space agencies around the world approached 70, while the number of countries able to launch a satellite in orbit is close to 100. Against this backdrop, the historical two-nation competition between the United States (US) and Russia (USSR until 1991) has been widening to many other countries (see Figure 1), resulting in a new international space order. Spanning from the Persian Gulf to East Asia, emerging actors at both national and private levels are engaged in a race towards space. Asia’s share of global government expenditure on space programmes has nearly doubled since the early 2000s, driven by substantial Chinese investment.