Scientometric Analysis of Published Scientific Productions in the Field of Satellite Constellations

Abstract

Satellite constellations consist of similar satellites distributed in a specific orbital pattern to accomplish a joint mission. They are commonly used for global telecommunications, positioning, and remote sensing missions. This article utilizes a scientometric approach to analyze the structure and scientific mapping of "satellite constellations" worldwide, focusing on two leading countries: the United States and China. Additionally, a comparison is made between the United States, China, and global research outputs.The research encompasses all scientific documents in the "satellite constellations" field indexed in the Scopus database from 1969 to 2023. Knowledge maps (thematic subfields) and international cooperation maps are generated using Bibexcel and VOSviewer software. The number of documents published in this period includes 14,346 globally, with 3,738 from the United States and 3,369 from China.The findings reveal that the United States, China, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom are leaders in this field. The trend of scientific production in this area is increasing globally, indicating its importance and attractiveness. Conference papers constitute the most significant number of publications worldwide and in the United States, whereas, in China, most documents are journal articles. The top scientific production institutions globally include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the German Aerospace Center, Wuhan University, and the European Space Research and Technology Centre.

Keywords

• satellite constellations
• scientometrics
• scopus
• knowledge maps: co-word network