• Question: How many satellites are working in space?

    Asked by Jojowiththebowbow to Brian on 5 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Brian Weaver

      Brian Weaver answered on 5 Mar 2019: last edited 5 Mar 2019 4:15 pm

      Great question! Although there are many types of satellites in space, I’m only familiar with the satellites used for positioning and navigation. I estimate at least 100 positioning satellites are working right now.
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      At the moment, there are many different systems of satellites in space. Each system is called a “constellation” and is managed by a different country. Here are the constellations in space right now:
      Name………/…Country../..Number of satellites
      GPS………../…USA……/..31
      GLONASS../…Russia…/..24
      Galileo……./…Europe../..22
      BeiDou……/…China…./..33
      *QZSS……/…Japan…./….4
      *IRNSS…../….India…../….7
      * note: the QZSS and IRNSS systems are regional and do not cover the entire globe!
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      The list above is not complete because some systems, like BeiDou and Galileo, are still launching new satellites into orbit to complete their constellations. If you’re interested, you can check the status of Galileo (European) positioning satellites here:
      https://www.gsc-europa.eu/system-status/Constellation-Information.

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