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Reference.org
List of government space agencies
open-in-new
<p>Government space agencies, established by the governments of countries and regional agencies (groupings of countries) are established as a means for advocating for engaging in activities related to <a href="/facts/Outer_space/R3LRKyFs">outer space</a>, exploitation of space systems, and/or <a href="/facts/Space_exploration/2eKXYVdq">space exploration</a>. The listings summarize all countries' and regional authorities' space agencies with a comparative summary of demonstrated capabilities. </p><p>The objectives include national prestige, exploitation of <a href="/facts/Remote_sensing/pj2crmGs">remote sensing</a> information, communications, education, and economic development. These agencies tend to be civil in nature (vs military) and serve to advance the benefits of exploitation and/or exploration of space. They span the spectrum from old organizations with small budgets to mature national or regional enterprises such as the <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a> (NASA) of the United States, the <a href="/facts/European_Space_Agency/L8YRNV0C">European Space Agency</a> (ESA) which coordinates for more than 20 constituent countries, the <a href="/facts/JAXA/ofUpflgf">Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency</a> (JAXA), the <a href="/facts/Roscosmos/GzWfae7U">Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities</a> (Roscosmos) of Russia, the <a href="/facts/ISRO/CdAoFQTL">Indian Space Research Organisation</a> (ISRO), and the <a href="/facts/China_National_Space_Agency/q3s4bGYt">China National Space Agency</a> (CNSA). </p><p>The space agency listings are segregated to enable identification of subsets of the complete list that have advanced to higher levels or technical or programmatic proficiency in accordance with the following: </p> <ul><li>Establishment of agency, initial exploitation of space-based systems</li> <li>Development of launch capability</li> <li>Capacity for extraterrestrial exploration</li> <li>Demonstration of human spaceflight capability across one or more of these domains</li></ul>