Technology

All of the World’s Spaceports on One Map

Published

2 years ago

October 18, 2022

Nick Routley

View the high-resolution map

Mapped: The World’s Rocket Launch Sites

From Sputnik 1 to today’s massive satellite constellations, every object in space was launched from just a handful of locations.

The map above, from BryceTech, is a comprehensive look at the world’s spaceports (both orbital and sub-orbital) as well as ballistic missile test sites.

ℹ️ In sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft reaches outer space, but it doesn’t complete an orbital revolution or reach escape velocity. In orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft remains in space for at least one orbit.

The World’s Major Spaceports

Though the graphic above is a detailed list of many types of rocket launch sites, we’ll focus on major sites that are sending satellites and passengers into sub-orbit, orbit, and beyond.

Launch Facility	Location	Country
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station	Florida	🇺🇸 U.S.
Cape Canaveral Spaceport	Florida	🇺🇸 U.S.
Kennedy Space Center	Florida	🇺🇸 U.S.
Cecil Field Spaceport	Florida	🇺🇸 U.S.
Colorado Air & Space Port	Colorado	🇺🇸 U.S.
Vandenberg Air Force Base	California	🇺🇸 U.S.
Mojave Air and Space Port	California	🇺🇸 U.S.
Oklahoma Air & Space Port	Oklahoma	🇺🇸 U.S.
Poker Flat Research Range	Alaska	🇺🇸 U.S.
Pacific Spaceport Complex	Alaska	🇺🇸 U.S.
Spaceport America	New Mexico	🇺🇸 U.S.
Launch Site One (Corn Ranch)	Texas	🇺🇸 U.S.
Houston Spaceport	Texas	🇺🇸 U.S.
Midland Air & Space Port	Texas	🇺🇸 U.S.
SpaceX Development and Test Facility	Texas	🇺🇸 U.S.
SpaceX Starbase	Texas	🇺🇸 U.S.
Spaceport Camden	Georgia	🇺🇸 U.S.
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport	Virginia	🇺🇸 U.S.
Wallops Flight Facility	Virginia	🇺🇸 U.S.
Reagan Test Site	Kwajalein Atoll	🇲🇭 Marshall Islands
Naro Space Center	Outer Naro Island	🇰🇷 South Korea
Sohae Satellite Launching Station	North Pyongan Province	🇰🇵 North Korea
Kapustin Yar	Astrakhan Oblast	🇷🇺 Russia
Plesetsk Cosmodrome	Arkhangelsk Oblast	🇷🇺 Russia
Vostochny Cosmodrome	Amur Oblast	🇷🇺 Russia
Yasny Launch Base	Orenburg Oblast	🇷🇺 Russia
Arnhem Space Centre	Northern Territory	🇦🇺 Australia
Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex	South Australia	🇦🇺 Australia
Koonibba Test Range	South Australia	🇦🇺 Australia
Bowen Orbital Spaceport	Queensland	🇦🇺 Australia
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1	Wairoa District	🇳🇿 New Zealand
Baikonur Cosmodrome	Baikonur	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
Space Port Oita	Ōita	🇯🇵 Japan
Tanegashima Space Center	Kagoshima	🇯🇵 Japan
Uchinoura Space Center	Kagoshima	🇯🇵 Japan
Taiki Aerospace Research Field	Hokkaido	🇯🇵 Japan
Hokkaido Spaceport	Hokkaido	🇯🇵 Japan
Ryori Launch Site	Iwate	🇯🇵 Japan
Sonmiani Satellite Launch Center	Balochistan	🇵🇰 Pakistan
Integrated Test Range	Odisha	🇮🇳 India
Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station	Kerala	🇮🇳 India
Satish Dhawan Space Centre	Sriharikota	🇮🇳 India
Guiana Space Centre	Kourou	🇬🇫 French Guiana
Barreira do Inferno Launch Center	Rio Grande do Norte	🇧🇷 Brazil
Alcântara Space Center	Maranhão	🇧🇷 Brazil
Stasiun Peluncuran Roket	West Java	🇮🇩 Indonesia
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center	Gansu Province	🇨🇳 China
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center	Shanxi Province	🇨🇳 China
Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site	Hainan Province	🇨🇳 China
Xichang Satellite Launch Center	Sichuan Province	🇨🇳 China
Palmachim Airbase	Central District	🇮🇱 Israel
Imam Khomeini Space Launch Terminal	Semnan	🇮🇷 Iran
Qom Lauch Facility	Qom	🇮🇷 Iran
El Arenosillo Test Centre	Huelva	🇪🇸 Spain
Spaceport Sweden	Lapland	🇸🇪 Sweden
Esrange Space Center	Lapland	🇸🇪 Sweden
Andøya Space	Nordland	🇳🇴 Norway
SaxaVord Spaceport	Shetland Islands	🇬🇧 UK
Sutherland Spaceport	Sutherland	🇬🇧 UK
Western Isles Spaceport	Outer Hebrides	🇬🇧 UK
Spaceport Machrihanish	Campbeltown	🇬🇧 UK
Prestwick Spaceport	Glasgow	🇬🇧 UK
Snowdonia Spaceport	North West Wales	🇬🇧 UK
Spaceport Cornwall	Cornwall	🇬🇧 UK
Orbex LP1	Moray	🇬🇧 UK
Spaceport Nova Scotia	Nova Scotia	🇨🇦 Canada

Editor’s note: The above table includes all sites that are operational, as well as under construction, as of publishing date.

The list above covers fixed locations, and does not include SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport drone ships. There are currently three active drone ships—one based near Los Angeles, and the other two based at Port Canaveral, Florida.

Two of the most famous launch sites on the list are the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) and Cape Canaveral (United States). The former was constructed as the base of operations for the Soviet space program and was the launch point for Earth’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. The latter was NASA’s primary base of operations and the first lunar-landing flight was launched from there in 1969.

The global roster of spaceports has grown immensely since Baikonur and Cape Canaveral were the only game in town. Now numerous countries have the ability to launch satellites, and many more are getting in on the action.

Wenchang Space Launch Site, on the island of Hainan, is China’s newest launch location. The site recorded its first successful launch in 2016.

Location, Location

One interesting quirk of the map above is the lack of spaceports in Europe. Europe’s ambitions for space are actually launched from the Guiana Space Centre in South America. Europe’s Spaceport has been operating in French Guiana since 1968.

Low altitude launch locations near the equator are the most desirable, as far less energy is required to take a spacecraft from surface level to an equatorial, geostationary orbit.

Islands and coastal areas are also common locations for launch sites. Since the open waters aren’t inhabited, there is minimal risk of harm from debris in the event of a launch failure.

As demand for satellites and space exploration grows, the number of launch locations will continue to grow as well.

Related Topics:space exploration satellites spaceports rocket launch sites

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Technology

Ranked: The Top Startup Cities Around the World

Here are the global startup ecosystem rankings, highlighting the scale and maturity of major tech hubs worldwide.

Published

3 days ago

May 21, 2024

Dorothy Neufeld

This bar chart shows the top startup ecosystems in the world in 2024.

The Top Startup Cities Around the World

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

A richly connected network of founders, venture capital firms, and tech talent are some of the key ingredients driving a startup ecosystem.

As engines of growth, these tech clusters are evolving on a global scale. While the world’s leading startup cities are concentrated in America, several ecosystems, such as Beijing and Seoul, are growing in prominence as countries focus on technological advancement to spur innovation.

This graphic shows the best startup cities worldwide, based on data from Pitchbook.

The Global Startup Ecosystem Rankings

To determine the rankings, each city was analyzed based on the scale and maturity of their startup ecosystem over a six-year period ending in the second quarter of 2023.

Among the inputs analyzed and used to calculate the overall development score were fundraising activity, venture capital deals, and exit value:

Rank	City	Development Score	Capital Raised	Deal Count	Exit Value
1	🇺🇸 San Francisco	90	$427.6B	19,898	$766.3B
2	🇺🇸 New York	76	$179.9B	13,594	$171.7B
3	🇨🇳 Beijing	76	$161.2B	8,835	$279.2B
4	🇨🇳 Shanghai	73	$130.3B	7,422	$186.8B
5	🇺🇸 Los Angeles	71	$144.6B	9,781	$181.4B
6	🇺🇸 Boston	70	$117.0B	6,044	$172.8B
7	🇬🇧 London	64	$99.0B	11,533	$71.9B
8	🇨🇳 Shenzhen	63	$46.4B	5,020	$66.3B
9	🇰🇷 Seoul	61	$31.1B	6,196	$71.0B
10	🇯🇵 Tokyo	60	$26.2B	5,590	$28.0B
11	🇨🇳 Hangzhou	59	$50.7B	3,361	$88.7B
12	🇺🇸 Washington D.C.	55	$43.7B	2,706	$28.2B
13	🇺🇸 Seattle	54	$31.7B	2,693	$35.6B
14	🇸🇬 Singapore	52	$45.7B	4,507	$38.0B
15	🇺🇸 San Diego	52	$33.5B	2,023	$44.7B
16	🇺🇸 Austin	52	$26.4B	2,636	$22.9B
17	🇨🇳 Guangzhou	52	$24.7B	1,700	$24.0B
18	🇮🇱 Tel Aviv	51	$21.0B	1,936	$32.2B
19	🇺🇸 Denver	51	$26.8B	2,489	$29.9B
20	🇩🇪 Berlin	50	$31.2B	2,469	$15.9B

San Francisco dominates the pack, with $427.6 billion in capital raised over the six-year period.

Despite a challenging funding environment, nearly 20,000 deals closed, highlighting its outsized role in launching tech startups. Both OpenAI and rival Anthropic are headquartered in the city, thanks to its broad pool of tech talent and venture capital firms. Overall, 11,812 startups were based in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023, equal to about 20% of startups in America.

Falling next in line is New York City, which raised $179.9 billion over the same time period. Crypto firm Gemini and machine learning company, Hugging Face, are two examples of startups based in the city.

As the top-ranking hub outside of America, Beijing is home to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

In recent years, much of the startup funding in China is being driven by government-backed funds. In particular, these funds are focusing heavily on “hard tech” such as semiconductor-makers and electric vehicle companies that align with the government’s strategic long-term goals.

Another leading tech hub, Singapore, has the highest venture capital funding per capita worldwide. In 2023, this was equal to an impressive $1,060 in venture funding per person. By comparison, venture funding was $345 per person in the U.S., the second-highest globally.