411 Miguel Yagües Palazón Environmental Challenges in Outer Space in the... spending.58 Out of a total of 528 US satellites in existence in January 2015, 229 were com-mercial, 18 civilian, 121 governmental and 160 military.59 Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, private initiatives have diversified into four classes: In first place, the traditional marketing and sale of satellite applications. For exam-ple, in February 2017 India set a record with the launch of 104 satellites into space from a single rocket, 88 of which were Doves, small satellites weighing just 4.5 kilo-grams. The satellites are manufactured by the North American company Planet Lab that sells data to governments and commercial entities.60 In 2009 three of the leading global satellite communications companies, Intel-sat, SES and Inmarsat, with more than 100 satellites between them in geostatio-nary orbit (GEO), proposed the creation of the SDA (Space Data Association), a database designed to record the positions of satellites or planned manoeuvres to reduce the possibility of orbital collisions and frequency interference while aiming to provide situational spatial awareness (SSA). This database represented the first global effort of the satellite industry to address issues common to private satellite operators. The proposal had a double objective: on the one hand, to provide infor-mation on the location of commercial satellites, because although this is already available through intergovernmental space surveillance, it is not always accura-te and up-to-date, especially in the geostationary arc. Therefore, the aim was to obtain a database that would be independent of government control. The other objective was that it would also function as an information exchange centre.61 The second group relates to the provision of space launch services. During the early years of the twenty-first century, private companies and investors reached di-fferent milestones. The first of these occurred in 2004 when the SpaceShipOne be-came the first manned aircraft to perform a suborbital flight, analogous with the early days of commercial aviation in the 1920s and 1930s, when several private air-lines were offering commercial transatlantic flights.62 Other significant examples of 58 Space Foundation, The Space Report 2014, Colorado Spring, Colorado: Space Foundation, 2014. 59 Union of Concerned Scientist, UCS Satellite Database, Satellite Quick Facts (includes launches through 1/31/15), <https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/satellite-database#. W54k_1JoTBJ> consulted: 1-6-2015. 60 Barry, E., “India Launches 104 Satellites from a Single Rocket, Ramping up a Space Race”, The New York Times, New Delhi, 15 February 2017, <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/world/asia/ india-satellites-rocket.html> consulted: 15-9-2018. 61 De Selding, P. B., “Satellite Operators Solicit Bids to Create Orbital Database”, SpaceNews, Paris, 18 November 2009, <http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-operators-solicit-bids-create-orbital- database> consulted: 15-9-2018. 62 Boot, M., “Space, the Final Free Market”, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 October 2004, < http://www.cfr.org/space/space-final-free-market/p7433> consulted: 1-6-2015. Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos n.º 12 - Año: 2018 - Págs.: 397 a 431
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