How Many Satellites are in Space

With the launch of the United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN), designed to keep a track of different objects in the space, it is now possible to find out how many satellites are in space as of today. Read on...

On 4th October, 1957, the Soviet Union made history by launching the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite - Sputnik 1, into space. The launch of Sputnik was followed by the launch of Explorer 1 by the United States of America in 1958, and Astérix by France in 1965. By the dawn of the 21st century, nearly all the major countries of the world had their own satellites orbiting the planet.

In fact, countries like the United States had launched hundreds of satellites by then, thus bringing the total count of man-made satellites to a four digit figure. Russia, the former Soviet Union, alone has more than a thousand satellites in space today. It is difficult to find out exactly how many satellites are there in space, but the estimates put this number beyond the 2000 mark.

Some Facts about Artificial Satellites

Though the term 'satellite' can also refer to the Moon, the lone natural satellite of the Earth, it is more often used to refer to man-made satellites (AKA artificial satellites) orbiting the planet. There are thousands of satellites in space, each of which is assigned a specific task - right from communication and military surveillance to space exploration. While some satellites orbit the Earth along the polar orbit, others orbit the planet along the geostationary orbit. The average lifespan of a satellite tends to range between 5-20 years. As the mission nears its end phase, the satellite operators can either de-orbit the satellite, leave it in its orbit or move it to the graveyard orbit. As the de-orbiting process comes heavy in terms of total cost, most of the countries either leave the satellite in their current orbit or move them to the graveyard orbit.

Number of Satellites are in Space

The United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN), which has the ability of tracking any object with a diameter of 3.93 inches, has tracked more than 26,000 space objects orbiting the Earth since it came into existence in 1957. Of these 26,000 objects, approximately 8,000 are man-made as per the data compiled by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Space Surveillance Network has the ability to keep a track of objects ranging from pieces of spent rocket bodies which weigh around 10 lbs to active satellites which can weigh several tons. As per the data compiled by the National Space Science Data Center as many as 6,578 satellites have been launched into space since 1957.

Does that mean as many as 6,578 active man-made satellites are in space at this moment? Not actually. As we said earlier, the average lifespan of a satellite ranges between 5-20 years. The evaluation of the data compiled by Space Surveillance Network reveals that only around 7 percent of the total objects that it is tracking, which amounts to around 560, are actually active satellites, while rest are mere space debris - which include spent rocket pieces as well as defunct satellites. If the data compiled by the Goddard Space Flight Center is to be believed, there are as many as 2,271 satellites currently in orbit (which includes both active and defunct satellites which continue to orbit the Earth.) With a total of 1324 satellites to its credit, Russia leads the list of countries in terms of number of satellites, followed by the United States of America with 658 of its own.

With so many man-made satellites orbiting the planet, the chances of collision cannot be ruled out, and that was proved by the recent incident wherein the Iridium communications satellite collided with a Russian satellite. The largest artificial satellite that has ever orbited the Earth is the International Space Station (ISS) - an internationally developed research facility in low Earth orbit which is expected to be completed in 2011.

By Abhijit Naik
Published: 1/25/2011

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