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What's the total number of Satellites orbiting the Earth?

What are the Total Number of Satellites on the Earth’s Orbit?


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SNN or the United States Space Surveillance Network has been observing satellites on the Earth’s orbit for 55 years now. They are also tasked to keep track of any object which has a diameter of more than 10 cm that reaches the orbit of our planet intentionally or unintentionally. SSN covers space junks as well and they can easily determine as to which country it belongs. As of the moment, they have already located 24,500 objects in space which can be found on the Earth’s orbit.

Soviet Union’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik is actually one of the reasons why SSN came to life on October 1957. The satellite moves around the Earth at 20,000 mph, constantly gives off a signal (radio) and kept USA in line. More than 10 years later, Apollo landed and finally ended the race in space between the Americans and the Russians.

Based on the data gathered by NASA or the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Earth has more or less 8,000 objects made by man and 3,000 satellites on its orbit.

Over time, more and more commercial and military satellites are being launched into space due to the growth in space technology. The cost for the launch of these satellites has also increased reaching to the maximum of 50 million dollars.

A satellite can last from 5 up to twenty years. The International Space Station is the biggest satellite that we have. Smaller satellites such as picosats, nanosats and microsats have an average of 0.1 kg in mass and 10 cm in diameter.

Below is the number of satellites owned by countries all over the world based on the data gathered in 2008:

almost 1,400 satellites – Russia
more or less 1000 satellites – United States of America
over 100 satellites – Japan
more or less 80 satellites – China
more than 40 satellites – France
over 30 satellites – India
more or less 30 satellites – Germany
25 satellites – Canada and United Kingdom
10 satellites - South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, Sweden, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia and Italy
Dec 3rd, 2012 at 1:04 AM
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