# How many man made satellites are in orbit?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 12, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664 "2005-08-12T00:33:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/1 "2005-08-12T00:33:03Z")
Of course the number of spy satellites each country has is probably unknown, but using the best known information, and adding that number to all of the other types of satellites, I.E., relaying satellite and broadcast TV stations, weather forecasting, GPS, cell phone relaying, and all the other kinds of satellites out there, both in synchronous and geosynchronous orbit, is it know how many there are?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/2 "2005-08-12T00:55:41Z")
Depending on your definition of “satellite” there are from about 3,000 to about 5,000 or so functional satellites and well over 6,000 bits of space debris which loosely fit the definition of “artificial satellite”, and are trackable by radar according to [this page](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/VadimBlikshteyn.shtml). There is, of course, at least one natural satellite.
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/3 "2005-08-12T01:02:42Z")
Yes, the definitions are pretty ambiguous, especially considering the first ‘artificial satellites’ wouldn’t really count as functional satellites by today’s standards… did sputnik 1 even have a radio broadcast antenna? (I would think so, just to make sure they could find it. 😉 )
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/4 "2005-08-12T01:13:54Z")
Sputnik 1 did, that’s how thousands of amateur radio operators were able to track it
some time ago someone posted a link to a NASA applet that displays orbits of whatever satellites you choose but I can’t find the link on my PC.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/5 "2005-08-12T01:23:51Z")
> [@Padeye](#):
>
> some time ago someone posted a link to a NASA applet that displays orbits of whatever satellites you choose but I can’t find the link on my PC.
Probably [this one](http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3D.html), called JTrack. It’s a Java applet, so you’ll need Java support installed for your browser, naturally.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/6 "2005-08-12T01:32:58Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> Depending on your definition of “satellite” …
> [@chrisk](#):
>
> Yes, the definitions are pretty ambiguous
😕 Lately the board has been overrun by statements such as “depends on what you mean by X”. To avoid this, I said “man made”, I said “in orbit”, and I gave examples of the kinds of satellites I was talking about. I spelled it out as clearly as I could. How could my question even be close to vague?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/7 "2005-08-12T01:46:34Z")
> [@Master Control](#):
>
> …and all the other kinds of satellites out there…
The above statement is what throws your entire question into the territory of ambiguity, hence the language of the replies.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/8 "2005-08-12T03:07:26Z")
I’m sure that I wasn’t listing them all, so I gave a few examples, and then said “all the other kinds of satellites out there”. I didn’t say “all the other kinds of man made satellites” because “man made” is implied.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/9 "2005-08-12T03:19:18Z")
I realize that. But a piece of STS tile that detaches in orbit is man made too. As such, it is a satellite under some definitions of the term. If you mean those that are intentionally orbiting and are currently functional (and I think that’s what you’re trying to ask), well, my first post covered that, too.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/10 "2005-08-12T03:23:53Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> I realize that. But a piece of STS tile that detaches in orbit is man made too. As such, it is a satellite under some definitions of the term. If you mean those that are intentionally orbiting and are currently functional (and I think that’s what you’re trying to ask), well, my first post covered that, too.
Yes, that’s exactly what I was asking. Thank you for the info.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/11 "2005-08-12T06:50:41Z")
The OP implies that we wouldn’t know the number of spy satellites.
While I can imagine not knowing _whether_ a satellite is intended solely for spy purposes, it would be my understanding that launching the sucker would be difficult to make secret–and some space-junkie would have noted it down. Is this accurate? Or can we launch satellites off of a carrier in the middle of the Pacific where no one\* can see it or such?
- Except the military personel of course.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/12 "2005-08-12T10:39:42Z")
How many are around Mars?
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/13 "2005-08-12T10:57:14Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#):
>
> The OP implies that we wouldn’t know the number of spy satellites.
> While I can imagine not knowing _whether_ a satellite is intended solely for spy purposes, it would be my understanding that launching the sucker would be difficult to make secret–and some space-junkie would have noted it down. Is this accurate? Or can we launch satellites off of a carrier in the middle of the Pacific where no one\* can see it or such?
>
> - Except the military personel of course.
> [@Master Control](#):
>
> Of course the number of spy satellites each country is **probably** unknown
Bolding mine.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/14 "2005-08-12T11:49:00Z")
The number of spy satellites isn’t public knowledge, but I imagine that most of the major world powers have at least a rough idea of how many spy satellites are pointed at them.
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/15 "2005-08-12T13:10:18Z")
> [@Master Control](#):
>
> 😕 Lately the board has been overrun by statements such as “depends on what you mean by X”. To avoid this, I said “man made”, I said “in orbit”, and I gave examples of the kinds of satellites I was talking about. I spelled it out as clearly as I could. How could my question even be close to vague?
Sorry if I was being difficult. But as QED has already pointed out, the examples of the kinds of satellites you were talking about had other criteria implied besides being man-made and in orbit… that is, they were all launched deliberately and have some sort of communicative or sensory function. That’s why we were quibbling over the definitions.
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### Author:  [@Emerald\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emerald_Hawk)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/16 "2005-08-12T14:14:17Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#):
>
> The OP implies that we wouldn’t know the number of spy satellites.
> While I can imagine not knowing _whether_ a satellite is intended solely for spy purposes, it would be my understanding that launching the sucker would be difficult to make secret–and some space-junkie would have noted it down. Is this accurate? Or can we launch satellites off of a carrier in the middle of the Pacific where no one\* can see it or such?
>
> - Except the military personel of course.
Satellites are nearly impossible to launch secretly with our current technology. Chemical rockets are just too easy to see, especially from space with an IR sensor. One idea would be some sort of stealth space plane, but even then you would probably need a fairly powerful rocket for the final push to orbit (like [SpaceShipOne](http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/) had). Or you could launch two satellites in one rocket, with the secret one separating from the public one once they are in space. Give the secret one a small radar cross section, coat it with radar absorbing paint, and have it alter its trajectory every day or so. This might work, but the cost would be very high.
For some info on possible attempts to launch stealth satellites, check out this [space.com article](http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mystery_monday_050103.html). These projects were probably not successful, as the satellites seem to be easily tracked by amateurs. However, it’s possible that the decoy idea I described above was used, and there really is one that cannot be tracked. Either way, the projects were very expensive.
Most of the time, spy satellites are just given a cover story of being a weather or communications satellite, like Corona was.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-man-made-satellites-are-in-orbit/316664/17 "2005-08-12T16:03:31Z")
> [@chrisk](#):
>
> …especially considering the first ‘artificial satellites’ wouldn’t really count as functional satellites by today’s standards… did sputnik 1 even have a radio broadcast antenna? (I would think so, just to make sure they could find it. 😉 )
Perhaps you’re thinking of the [Echo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_satellite) satellites which didn’t have antennas. They were just big balloons for reflecting radio waves.