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Topic · Aerospace Engineering

Space Exploration and Technology

Space Exploration and Technology is a research topic within Aerospace Engineering. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the design, ergonomics, and performance evaluation of space suits for extravehicular activities (EVA) in space. It covers topics such as mobility, biomechanics, risk assessment, and NASA's involvement in space suit development.

  • Space Suit
  • Extravehicular Activity
  • EVA
  • Mobility
  • Biomechanics
  • NASA
  • Design
  • Simulation
  • Risk Assessment
  • Astronaut
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
48% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Space Exploration and Technology

Which countries lead Space Exploration and Technology research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (777 and 225 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 777 works
  2. 2 China 225 works
  3. 3 France 92 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 86 works
  5. 5 India 85 works
  6. 6 Italy 82 works
  7. 7 Germany 80 works
  8. 8 Russia 64 works
  9. 9 Japan 57 works
  10. 10 Spain 53 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 48.5%China: 14.1%France: 5.8%United Kingdom: 5.4%6 others listed: 26.3%48%largest
United States777 · 48.5%China225 · 14.1%France92 · 5.8%United Kingdom86 · 5.4%6 others listed422 · 26.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Space Exploration and Technology research?

By volume in 2022-now, National Aeronautics and Space Administration publishes the most Space Exploration and Technology research, followed by California Institute of Technology and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationUnited States 93 works
  2. 2 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 42 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 35 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 32 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 29 works
  6. 6 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 28 works
  7. 7 European Space AgencyFrance 20 works
  8. 8 China Aerospace Science and Technology CorporationChina 19 works
  9. 9 Department of SpaceIndia 18 works
  10. 10 Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 17 works

Who are the leading researchers in Space Exploration and Technology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Space Exploration and Technology include Richard M. Ryan, Peter John Barnes and Michael Snyder.

  1. 1 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  2. 2 Peter John Barnes United Kingdom 225k citations
  3. 3 Michael Snyder United States 224k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Space Exploration and Technology?

The most cited paper in Space Exploration and Technology is "Kinetics and Kinematics for Translational Motions in Microgravity During Parabolic Flight" (Leia A. Stirling, Karen E. Willcox, Philip A. Ferguson et al., 2009), with 5,266 citations. Next come "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)" (1,757) and "Ancillary data services of NASA's Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility" (1,132).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Kinetics and Kinematics for Translational Motions in Microgravity During Parabolic Flight Leia A. Stirling, Karen E. Willcox, Philip A. Ferguson et al. · Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine Jun 2009 5,266
2 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) Alfred S. McEwen, Eric M. Eliason, James W. Bergstrom et al. · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres May 2007 1,757
3 Ancillary data services of NASA's Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility C. H. Acton · Planetary and Space Science 1996 1,132
4 Lunar initial 143Nd/144Nd: Differential evolution of the lunar crust and mantle Guenter W. Lugmair, Kurt Marti · Earth and Planetary Science Letters May 1978 1,078
5 Chicxulub Crater: A possible Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico A. R. Hildebrand, Glen T. Penfield, David A. KRING et al. · Geology 1991 962
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Space Exploration and Technology research done?

The largest centres of Space Exploration and Technology research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Houston (United States), Moscow (Russia) and Pasadena (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pasadena.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 96 works
  2. 2 HoustonUnited States 63 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 47 works
  4. 4 PasadenaUnited States 44 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 34 works
  6. 6 CologneGermany 32 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 32 works
  8. 8 LondonUnited Kingdom 26 works
  9. 9 CambridgeUnited States 23 works
  10. 10 BengaluruIndia 23 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PasadenaUS · 44.2 works51×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Space Exploration and Technology than the world average.

See Space Exploration and Technology on the map

Where is the best place to study Space Exploration and Technology?

Among universities, judged by research, California Institute of Technology, University of Colorado Boulder and Massachusetts Institute of Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 10.14%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of MichiganUniversity of Colora…California Institute…Massachusetts Instit…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 73.212.9%68.1×42 -20.7%
2University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 64.313.4%16.8×13 -21.7%
3Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 59.42.1%14.1×17 +48.4%
4University of MichiganUnited States 57.114.2%4.0×10 +75.8%
5University of ArizonaUnited States 56.714.5%7.3×8 -1.2%
6Politecnico di MilanoItaly 49.88.2%10.1×12 +326.3%
7Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 48.510.8%4.9×13 -22.2%
8Beihang UniversityChina 48.114.8%6.1×12 +212.5%
9Purdue University West LafayetteUnited States 46.07.7%8.1×13 +57.0%
10Georgia Institute of TechnologyUnited States 33.32.8%12.7×14 +14.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Space Exploration and Technology, country by country

Is Space Exploration and Technology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Space Exploration and Technology.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Space Exploration and Technology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Space Exploration and Technology0.0095% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Space Exploration and Technology over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Space Exploration and Technology9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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