How many satellites are in orbit right now? (October 2026)

Why do satellite counts differ between sources?

Satellite counts differ because sources count different things: azmth counts CelesTrak's active catalog (16,822), Jonathan McDowell counts 16,913 active payloads, and ESA estimates about 15,900 functioning satellites. The spread is about 6.4% and comes from status lag, definition boundaries and the different dates behind each figure. azmth's number updates every 2 hours; McDowell's statistics and ESA's update on their own schedules, so small gaps are normal and expected.

How many satellites are in LEO, MEO and GEO?

16,010 active satellites are in low Earth orbit (LEO), 203 in medium Earth orbit (MEO), and 564 in geostationary orbit (GEO).

LEO is low Earth orbit (up to 2,000 km), MEO medium Earth orbit, GEO geostationary, HEO highly elliptical. See the glossary for definitions.

How many Starlink satellites are there?

11,160 Starlink satellites are in CelesTrak's active catalog, about 66% of all active satellites. Launched, in-orbit, and working totals differ; the Starlink count page breaks down exactly why.

By constellation

Counts match on the satellite name in CelesTrak's catalogue, so they include just-launched units that are not yet in service.

Every network, with its operator and live count →

How many satellites were launched in 2026?

At least 3,421 satellites launched in 2026 are in orbit and active. This is a floor: it only counts satellites still in the active catalog, so early failures and already-deorbited units are not included. A constellation breakdown and prior-year comparisons are on the launches this year page.

Which country has the most satellites?

United States operates the most active satellites (12,601), followed by China (1,569).

Counts use CelesTrak's owner codes. The United Kingdom total includes OneWeb's constellation; the United States total is dominated by Starlink.

How many military satellites are there?

There are 1,226 active military satellites, owned by 30 countries: 676 American, 322 Chinese and 121 Russian, counted from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell's GCAT catalogue (17 October 2026). 728 move live on azmth's globe, and the 465 whose orbits are not public each have their own page with what is published about them: 433 approximate orbits drawn to scale and 32 dated entries (CelesTrak, 18 October 2026). 16 more are labelled Military*, because their own governments say their armed forces or defence ministry own or run them (5 October 2026). Military satellites, counted and explained →

How much space debris is there?

ESA estimates about 47,210 tracked objects in orbit including rocket bodies and debris, and about 1.5 million modeled debris objects from 1 to 10 cm. azmth tracks active satellites only, not debris. For debris statistics, the authoritative sources are ESA's Space Environment Statistics and NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office.

By launch decade

Methodology

Counts cover the active-satellite catalog published by CelesTrak, refreshed every 2 hours. This is the set of objects with current orbital elements, mostly operational payloads plus some backup, spare, and recently launched craft. It excludes the much larger population of tracked debris and rocket bodies (about 47,210 tracked objects overall, per ESA) and the millions of fragments too small to track. Orbit classification uses standard altitude bands computed from each satellite's orbital elements. Details on the about page.