Objects Launched into Space

This dataset contains the annual number of objects launched into outer space! Our World in Data processed the data from the Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space, maintained by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs since 1962. h/t Data is Plural.

What you should know about this indicator

Objects are defined here as satellites, probes, landers, crewed spacecrafts, and space station flight elements launched into Earth orbit or beyond.

This data is based on national registers of launches submitted to the UN by participating nations. According to UN estimates, the data captures around 88% of all objects launched.

When an object is marked by the source as launched by a country on behalf of another one, the launch is attributed to the latter country.

When a launch is made jointly by several countries, it is recorded in each of these countries' time series but only once in the 'World' series.

Data Page: Annual number of objects launched into space”, part of the following publication: Edouard Mathieu and Max Roser (2022) - “Space Exploration and Satellites”. Data adapted from United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/yearly-number-of-objects-launched-into-outer-space

Dataset: United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Annual number of objects launched into space – UNOOSA” [dataset]. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, “Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space” [original data]. Retrieved April 21, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/yearly-number-of-objects-launched-into-outer-space

When did each entity start launching objects into space? What years saw the biggest increase in space object launches?

Data Dictionary

outer_space_objects