The Ethical Use of Outer Space - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 106

Table 4.2 Estimated space
budgets for 2010
(OECD 2011 )

Country/group $US million

G7 53,239.6

United States 43,600.1

BRIC 10,537.1

China a 6,502.0

EU b 6,294.6

Japan 3,551.0

Russian Federation 2,665.4

France 2,615.3

Germany 1,668.8

India 1,193.7

Italy 933.7

United Kingdom 482.5

Canada 338.1

Korea 273.8

Brazil 176.0

Argentina 55.2

Indonesia 42.1

Turkey 33.1

Australia 11.8

World total 65,300.0

a Unoffi cial data
b For the EU, only 17 countries with national space
budgets are included: Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

satellites in total and China just over 50. Not only has the number of satellites
increased but so have the number of nations and government consortia operating in
space - there are currently around 60 - and nine states and the European Space
Agency have demonstrated an independent orbital launch capability. A number of
other state actors are developing the capability and there are non-state actors (e.g.
Sea Launch and International Launch Services) who provide commercial orbital
launch services using others' rockets. In addition, there are a further 18 states that
have suborbital launch capability, and two more appear to be developing long-range
missile programmes that could help them develop an orbital launch capability.
From Table 4.2 we see that, in 2010, the total space budget for the 35 top-
spending countries was estimated to be $65.3 billion, with most coming from the
G7 and BRIC countries.
The scientifi c exploration of space has often advanced international cooperation
and technical achievement but the recent commercial exploitation of space has
resulted in competition for business and particular orbital placements. In addition,
state funding and policy priorities have indicated a growing political rivalry in
space. In 2003 China became the third country to launch a human into space; soon