Which count do you mean?
The number of satellites in space depends on what you ask. GCAT lists 17,101 active satellites as of October 17, 2026. 16,960 of those are in Earth orbit, the rest being on their way to the Moon or beyond. 20,070 payloads are in orbit when you include satellites that no longer work, and 34,337 objects are tracked once spent rocket stages and debris are added. Starlink has launched 13,059 satellites, of which 1,908 have come back down. If a headline gives a number, check which of these it means.
Starlink is most of it
11,137 of the 17,101 active satellites are Starlink, 65.1%. Without them the active total is 5,964. That's more than the 5,263 payloads of every kind in orbit at the end of 2019. The page on the constellation, the Starlink count, follows its growth.
Who owns them
United States owns 13,118 of the active satellites, or 77%. Starlink accounts for 11,137 of the active total. Without Starlink the active fleet is 5,964.
What they do
Communications satellites make up 82% of the active fleet. Earth imaging is next with 1,278.
Categories are as assigned by GCAT.
Where they orbit
85% of active satellites fly below 600 km, in what GCAT calls lower low Earth orbit. Geosynchronous orbit, about 36,000 km up, holds 575.
How fast the count has grown
At the end of 2005, 2,914 payloads were in Earth orbit. By the end of 2025 the number was 17,304, and Starlink alone was 9,388 of those. The count now stands at 20,070.
All payloads in orbitStarlink
Data table
| Year | All payloads | Starlink |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2,914 | 0 |
| 2006 | 2,984 | 0 |
| 2007 | 3,072 | 0 |
| 2008 | 3,149 | 0 |
| 2009 | 3,242 | 0 |
| 2010 | 3,317 | 0 |
| 2011 | 3,402 | 0 |
| 2012 | 3,501 | 0 |
| 2013 | 3,665 | 0 |
| 2014 | 3,831 | 0 |
| 2015 | 3,976 | 0 |
| 2016 | 4,118 | 0 |
| 2017 | 4,507 | 0 |
| 2018 | 4,954 | 0 |
| 2019 | 5,263 | 120 |
| 2020 | 6,389 | 892 |
| 2021 | 8,025 | 1,791 |
| 2022 | 10,086 | 3,373 |
| 2023 | 12,259 | 5,268 |
| 2024 | 13,948 | 6,898 |
| 2025 | 17,304 | 9,388 |
Why other sites give a different number
Satellite counts depend on what a source counts. All four figures here come from the same catalogue:
- 17,101 active. Payloads that are working or may still be transmitting. GCAT says this status is updated infrequently and is often a guess when a satellite doesn't maneuver.
- 16,960 active and in Earth orbit. The other 141 are in solar or lunar orbit, at the Sun-Earth L1 point, attached to another spacecraft, or listed as lost.
- 20,070 payloads in Earth orbit. Includes dead satellites that haven't yet come down.
- 34,337 objects in Earth orbit. Adds rocket bodies, debris and fragments, an extra 14,267.
A site that quotes about 20,000 satellites in orbit is probably counting the third figure. One that quotes about 17,000 working satellites is probably counting the first.
Who owns them
The United States owns 13,118, 76.7%. China is second with 1,467, the United Kingdom third with 761, Russia fourth with 375, then Japan with 143. The British total is mostly OneWeb, which GCAT lists at 652 active satellites. The country pages start at the United States and China.
Where they are and what they do
14,601 of the active satellites, 85%, fly in the lowest band, between 80 and 600 kilometers. Another 1,454 are higher in low Earth orbit, 575 are in geosynchronous orbit and 196 in medium Earth orbit, where the navigation systems fly. Communications satellites number 13,969, Earth imaging 1,278, technology demonstration 587, navigation 244 and weather 157. The orbits are explained on the geostationary page and the GPS page.
How fast it grew
At the end of 2005 there were 2,914 payloads in orbit. By the end of 2018 there were 4,954, a rise of about 2,040 in 13 years. In the six years from the end of 2018 to the end of 2024 the total rose by 8,994, and in 2025 alone by 3,356, to 17,304. Starlink made up 9,388 of the 2025 total. Take Starlink out and the growth is still real, but slower: 5,143 at the end of 2019 and 7,916 at the end of 2025. That's the number that tells you whether the rest of the industry is growing.
Constellations on the way
OneWeb launched 656 satellites between 2019 and 2024, and the OneWeb page follows them. Amazon's network, listed by GCAT as Kuiper, had launched 398 by July 2, 2026, two of them prototypes from October 6, 2023. Amazon renamed it Amazon Leo on November 12, 2025. See the Kuiper page. China has two networks that have started launching. Guowang began operational launches on December 16, 2024 and is planned for more than 13,000 satellites, according to Wikipedia. Qianfan began on August 6, 2024 and is planned for more than 15,000. Plans aren't satellites, and both numbers will change.
Take Starlink out
Remove Starlink and the picture changes. The United States falls from 13,118 to 1,981 active satellites, which is only 514 more than China's 1,467. The United Kingdom's 761 and Russia's 375 stay where they are. The three-quarters share comes from one company.
Gone, and not gone
2,969 payloads are in orbit but not listed as active, 15% of the 20,070. They stay up until they come down by themselves. Starlink shows the other side of the same coin: of the 13,059 satellites it has launched, 1,908 (15%) are no longer in orbit, and its 127 launches in 2025 averaged 25 satellites each. The debris page covers what happens to the ones that stay.
What to watch
Three counts decide how this page looks a year from now: how many Starlink satellites are launched, how many come down, and how many of the new constellations leave the planning stage. The catalogue was updated October 17, 2026.