Federal Aviation Administration

Office of the Associate Administrator

for Commercial Space Transportation

800 Independence Ave., S.W.

Room 331

Washington, DC 20591

SPECIAL EDITION October 30, 2003 

In FY2003, the Federal Aviation Administration's

(FAA) Office of the Associate Administrator for

Commercial Space Transportation (AST) licensed eight

orbital launches valued at approximately $536 million,

including:

• Three launches conducted by the multinational Sea 

Launch service provider;

• Two flights out of Cape Canaveral Spaceport using 

the Atlas 5 series launch vehicles; and

• One launch each of the Atlas 3B, Delta 4 Medium 

Plus (4,2), and Pegasus XL.

The orbital launch count is higher than the total of six for

each of the past two years, but 44 percent less than the

number of launches in FY1999 (18 launches). A period

of leveling off can be seen after the drying up of demand

for commercial LEO launch services, with a slight

increase in the number of launches in FY2003. This

increase is expected to continue through FY2004 with

ten projected orbital commercial launches, including five

Sea Launch Zenit 3SL vehicles, two Atlas 2AS vehicles,

two Atlas 3 vehicles, and a Taurus.

During the FY1999-FY2003 period, there was an average of 18 commercial launches worldwide to geosynchronous orbit (GSO) per fiscal year, with a low of 16 in

FY2002 and FY2003 and a high of 23 in FY1999. There

was a low of four commercial launches to non-geosynchronous orbits (NGSO) in both FY2002 and FY2003

and a high of 18 in FY1999.

Twenty commercial launches occurred in FY2003,

lower than the average of 28 launches per fiscal year

during the five-year period. The U.S. (including Sea

Launch) conducted an average of ten commercial

launches per year during the five-year period. Russia has

averaged about eight commercial launches per fiscal

year during the same period. Europe has conducted an

average of nine launches per fiscal year since FY1999. 

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

Estimated Revenue from Licensed 

Launches (in $M)

FY1999 FY2000 FY2001 FY2002 FY2003 FY2004

Projected

$680M

$1,039M

$806M

$385M

$460M

$536M

FAA-Licensed Commercial Orbital Launch Trend

Multinational

3 (15%)

Russia

6 (30%)

USA

5 (25%)

Europe

6 (30%)

FAA-LICENSED VEHICLES LAUNCHED IN FY2003 U.S. Commercial Orbital Launch Revenue Trend

Worldwide Distribution of Orbital Commercial

Launches in FY2003

EIGHT FAA-LICENSED LAUNCHES IN FY2003 FIVE-YEAR ORBITAL COMMERCIAL LAUNCH

TRENDS WORLDWIDE

Sea Launch

Vehicle Atlas 3 Atlas 5 Delta 4 Pegasus XL Zenit 3SL

FY2003 Total 

Launches 1 2 3 4 3

FY2003 Licensed 

Launches 1 2 1 1 3

FY2003 Reliability 1/1 (100%) 2/2 (100%) 3/3 (100%) 4/4 (100%) 3/3 (100%)

10-Year Reliability 3/3 (100%) 3/3 (100%) 3/3 (100%) 22/25 (85%) 10/11 (91%)

Maximum LEO 

Capacity - kg (lb)

10,764

(23,709)

12,500

(27,558)

11,475

(25,300)

443

(977)

15,246

(33,541)

Maximum GEO 

Capacity - kg (lb)

4,500

(9,920)

7,640

(16,843)

6,565

(14,475) -

6,000

(13,228)

United States

18

12

6 6

8

10

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Number of Orbital Launches

FY1999 FY2000 FY2001 FY2002 FY2003 FY2004

Projected
Federal Aviation Administration

Office of the Associate Administrator

for Commercial Space Transportation

800 Independence Ave., S.W.

Room 331

Washington, DC 20591

SPECIAL EDITION October 30, 2003 

Date Vehicle Site Payload(s) Operator Manufacturer Use Comml 

Price L M

United 

States

11/20/2002 \/ Delta 4 MediumPlus (4,2)CCAFS * Eutelsat W5 Eutelsat Alcatel Espace Communications $77.5M S S

4/11/2003 \/ Atlas 3B CCAFS * AsiaSat 4 Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. 

(Asiasat)

Boeing Communications $70M S S

5/13/2003 \/ Atlas 5 401 CCAFS * Hellas-Sat 2 Hellas Sat Consortium, Ltd. Astrium Communications $70M S S

6/26/2003 \/ Pegasus XL VAFB * OrbView 3 ORBIMAGE Orbital Sciences Corp. Remote Sensing $16M S S

7/17/2003 \/ Atlas 5 521 CCAFS * Rainbow 1 Cablevision Systems Corporation Lockheed Martin Corp. Communications $77.5M S S

Europe

12/11/2002 Ariane 5 ECA Kourou * Hot Bird 7 Eutelsat Astrium Communications $140M F

Stentor Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales 

(CNES)

Astrium Communications F F

12/17/2002 Ariane 44L Kourou * NSS 6 New Skies Satellites N.V. Lockheed Martin Corp. Communications $105M S S

2/15/2003 Ariane 44L Kourou * Intelsat 907 Intelsat Space Systems/Loral Communications $105M S S

4/9/2003 Ariane 5G Kourou * Insat 3A Indian Space Research Organization 

(ISRO)

Indian Space Research 

Organization (ISRO)

Communications $140M S S

* Galaxy 12 Pan American Satellite Corp. Orbital Sciences Corp. Communications S

6/11/2003 Ariane 5G Kourou * Optus C1 Optus Communications Pty. Ltd. Space Systems/Loral Communications $140M S S

* BSat 2C Broadcasting Satellite System Corp. 

(BSAT)

Orbital Sciences Corp. Communications S

9/27/2003 Ariane 5G Kourou * Insat 3E Indian Space Research Organization 

(ISRO)

Indian Space Research 

Organization (ISRO)

Communications $140M S S

* eBird Eutelsat Boeing Communications S

SMART 1 European Space Agency (ESA) Swedish Space Corp. Development S

Russia

11/26/2002 Proton K Baikonur * Astra 1K SES Astra Alcatel Espace Communications $72.5M F F

12/20/2002 Dnepr 1 Svobodny * LatinSat 1 Aprize Satellite Argentina Aprize Satellite of Argentina Communications $9.5M S S

* LatinSat 2 Aprize Satellite Argentina Aprize Satellite of Argentina Communications S

Rubin 2 OHB-System Carlo Gavazzi Space Development S

SaudiSat 2 Riyadh Space Research Institute Space Research Institute Development S

* TrailBlazer Mass 

Simulator

TransOrbital, Inc. TransOrbital, Inc. Development S

Unisat 2 University of Rome GAUSS Development S

12/29/2002 Proton M Baikonur * Nimiq 2 Telesat Canada Lockheed Martin Corp. Communications $85M S S

6/2/2003 Soyuz Baikonur Mars Express 

Orbiter

European Space Agency (ESA) Astrium Scientific $40M S S

Beagle 2 European Space Agency (ESA) Astrium Scientific

6/7/2003 Proton K Baikonur * AMC 9 SES Americom Alcatel Espace Communications $72.5M S S

9/27/2003 Cosmos Plesetsk Kaistsat 4 Korean Advanced Institute of Science 

and Technology

Korean Advanced Institute of 

Science and Technology

Scientific $12M S S

BilSat 1 Turkish Military Surrey Satellite Technology 

Ltd.

Remote Sensing S

BNSCSat British National Space Centre Surrey Satellite Technology Remote Sensing S

Larets Russia - TBA Russia - TBA Scientific S

Mozhayets 4 Mozhaiskiy Military Space Engineering 

Academy

Mozhaiskiy Military Space 

Engineering Academy

Development S

NigeriaSat 1 Nigeria Surrey Satellite Technology 

Ltd.

Remote Sensing S

Rubin 4-DSI Carlo Gavazzi Space Carlo Gavazzi Space Development S

Multinational

6/10/2003 \/ Zenit 3SL Odyssey 

Launch 

Platform

* Thuraya 2 Thuraya Satellite Communciations 

Company

Boeing Communications $75M S S

8/7/2003 \/ Zenit 3SL Odyssey 

Launch 

Platform

* EchoStar 9 Echostar Communications Corporation Space Systems/Loral Communications $75M S S

9/30/2003 \/ Zenit 3SL Odyssey 

Launch 

Platform

* Galaxy 13 Horizons Boeing Communications $75M S S

WORLDWIDE ORBITAL COMMERCIAL LAUNCH EVENTS IN FY2003

Denotes a commercial payload, defined as a spacecraft which serves a commercial function or is operated by a commercial entity.

Denotes a commercial launch licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST)

L Denotes launch outcome (S-success, F-failure, and P-partial). M denotes mission outcome (S-success, F-failure, and P-partial).

* 

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