Objects Launched into Space

library(tidyverse) # ggplot, lubridate, dplyr, stringr, readr...
library(praise)
library(gganimate)

The Data

This week we’re exploring the annual number of objects launched into outer space! Our World in Data processed the data from the Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space, maintained by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs since 1962. h/t Data is Plural.

outer_space_objects <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2024/2024-04-23/outer_space_objects.csv') |>
  rename(region = Entity) |>
  mutate(region = case_when(
    region == "United States" ~"USA",
    TRUE ~ region
  )) |>
  filter(!is.na(Code))

temp <- map_data("world")

region_grid <- data_frame(expand.grid(Year = c(1990:2023),
                    region = unique(outer_space_objects$region)))

outer_space_objects_full <- left_join(region_grid,
                                    group_by(outer_space_objects, region)) |>
  mutate(num_objects = case_when(
    is.na(num_objects) ~ 0,
    TRUE ~ num_objects
  )) |>
  group_by(region) |>
  arrange(region, Year) |>
  mutate(cum_objs = cumsum(num_objects))

world_map <- map_data("world") |>
  select(-subregion, -order)

region_grid <- data_frame(expand.grid(Year = c(1980:2023),
                    region = unique(world_map$region)))


cum_vals <- region_grid |>
  left_join(outer_space_objects, by = c("region", "Year")) |>
  mutate(num_objects = case_when(
    is.na(num_objects) ~ 0,
    TRUE ~ num_objects
  )) |>
  group_by(region) |>
  arrange(region, Year) |>
  mutate(cum_objs = log(cumsum(num_objects), 10))

world_map <- world_map |> left_join(cum_vals)
  
world_map |>
  #filter(Year == 2020) |>
  select(long, lat, group, region, Year, cum_objs) |>
  drop_na() |>
  ggplot(aes(map_id = region, fill = cum_objs)) +
  geom_map(map = world_map, 
           aes(x = long, y = lat, group = group)) +
  theme_minimal() +
  transition_states(Year) +  
  #transition_reveal(Year) +
  labs(x = "", y = "", fill = "") + 
  ggtitle('Number of launched objects (log10 scale)',
          subtitle = 'as of {closest_state}')

Starting in 1980, the cumulatitve number of objects each country has launched into space. By 2023, the US had launched 8688 objects (from 1980 to 2023), where other countries (like Armenia and Ireland) have only launched a single object.

praise()

[1] "You are world-class!"