Satnews Daily - Geostationary satellites will continue to dominate the commercial satellite market in terms of revenue growth and number of launches, according to research firm Euroconsult. Government launches will account for most of the market.
Euroconsult said that after 40 years, the commercial geostationary satellite industry is entering its fourth demand cycle with 28 communications satellites ordered in 2005 and 24 in 2005. The strong ordering activity in the past two years was driven by the replacement and expansion of existing operational orbital slots by companies such as SES and Eutelsat and by new entrants such as Kazsat, Vinasat, Hylas and Protostar.
Euroconsult anticipates that 343 satellites will be launched by commercial operators worldwide over the next 10 years, representing 36 percent of total satellite demand over the period, with the bulk of the market remaining with government operators.
The commercial satellite market remains dominated by geostationary comsats that represent 84 percent of the manufacturing and launch revenues, 65 percent of the satellites to be launched and 94 percent of the tons to be orbited. A total of 223 geostationary comsats are expected to be launched in the next ten years, a five percent growth over the past 10 years.
Commercial satellites also populate Low Earth Orbit with three constellations for mobile communications services (Iridium, Globalstar and Orbcomm) and a few satellites for Earth observation. A total of 120 commercial satellites are expected to be launched into LEO over the next 10 years, of which 75 are to replace the first generation Globalstar and Orbcomm systems.
