May 21, 2024 19:00:00

SpaceX to surpass 400 tonnes of orbital launch volume in Q1 2024

BryceTech , a company that compiles reports on the space industry, has released its launch report for the first quarter of 2024. SpaceX has long dominated the number of launches into orbit, but in the first quarter of 2024, the total launch weight finally exceeded 400 tons for the first time, at 429,125 kg (429 tons).

Bryce Tech - Global Orbital Space Launches Q1 2024
(PDF file)https://brycetech.com/reports/report-documents/Bryce_Briefing_2024_Q1.pdf

When tallying up the number of rocket launches into orbit in the first quarter of 2024 by company or organization, SpaceX ranked first with 31. For the most recent three quarters, SpaceX had 22 launches in the second quarter of 2023, 26 launches in the third quarter of 2023, and 27 launches in the fourth quarter of 2023, beating other companies and organizations by more than 10 launches.

In second place was the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) with nine times, and in third place was the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos with five times.

The number of 'spacecraft' including all satellites and probes launched by rockets is 525 for SpaceX, 27 for CASC, and 24 for Roscosmos. The third place is America's Rocket Lab with 10, Chinarocket, a subsidiary of CASC's China Academy of Rocket Technology, with 9, and United Launch Alliance, the predecessor of the American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin and Boeing's launch division, with 7. Other companies and organizations have less than five.

In terms of launch mass, SpaceX came in first with 429,125 kg (429 tons), surpassing the 400-ton mark. CASC came in second with 29,426 kg (29 tons), 14 times the mass of SpaceX.

Below is a breakdown of the number of launches by country. The United States came in first with 36 launches. China came in second with 14, Russia in third with five, Japan in fourth with three, and India and Iran tied for fifth with two each.

Of the 626 spacecraft launched, 74% were for communications, 10% for remote sensing, and 9% for technology development. The majority of the spacecraft were for communications because SpaceX is launching a large number of communications satellites for its satellite communications service, Starlink.