Smallsats Dominated 2023 Launch Activity: BryceTech

The 2,860 small satellites launched in 2023 represented 97% of all satellites launched last year, BryceTech said Thursday. Smallsats accounted for the same percentage of satellites launched in 2022, it said. Communications accounted for 79% of the smallsats, with another 13% being remote sensing, it said. There were 267 different operators of the 2,860, up from 212 different operators for the smallsats launched in 2022, it said. Of the 221 orbital launches worldwide last year, 164 were for smallsats, it said. Bryce Tech found smallsats -- traditionally 1,200 kilograms or fewer -- are growing, with second-generation Starlinks being larger than first-generation designs. Meanwhile, Planet, Capella and Iridium next-gen satellites are all bigger than what they're replacing.