Mission Model Forecasts Nearly 35,000 Space Payloads Through 2031

Teal Group’s Worldwide Mission Model Online is now approaching 35,000 space payloads through 2031, and that’s only with less than 12,000 Starlink satellites included. That Starlink number may end up being well over 30,000 and could even surpass 40,000, but I’m just not ready yet to start inputting that many additional payloads. Soon, though.

In the meantime, I’m adding 170 Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (RIS²) satellites to the WMMO. This would be a $6.2 billion broadband system for fast-speed Internet access funded by the European Union, supposedly to make Europe less dependent on massive systems like Starlink and OneWeb. Good luck with that. Seems a bit too little too late to me.

I’m also adding 24 Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites being proposed by NorthStar Earth & Space of Montreal, Canada. This constellation would be designed to track other in-orbit satellites and debris at low Earth orbit. Spire Global of Vienna, Virginia is NorthStar’s prime contractor for the SSAs.

EOS SAT is another proposed constellation that would consist of seven Earth observation satellites focusing on agriculture. The first satellite, EOS SAT-1 is scheduled to be launched early next year, and the entire system is expected to be ready by 2025. Dragonfly Aerospace of Stellenbosch, South Africa is developing EOS SAT.

Lastly, another program to watch for is Planet Labs’ proposed Pelican constellation of up to 32 Earth observation satellites. These satellites would be the replacements for the current SkySat satellites launched during the past six years.