Mastodawn

Anyone know the total number of satellites currently in space? The numbers I see cite @planet4589 but haven't seen him post any updates here recently, and not sure where to look for any authoritative count. Was just trying to quantify this in an intelligence way for my students. (random craptastic, non-attributed Internet search says 9,450-ish Starlinks, plus 2,500 odd other things in the sky... but since no attribution, no idea if it's hallucinated or not).
(Update: 9,634 Starlinks per @sundogplanets , at least today on 2/3/2026)

Update to the update: Jonathan McDowell has this stats page, perfect!

https://planet4589.org/space/stats/

#space #satellites

Jonathan's Space Report | Space Statistics

Jonathan McDowell's new homepage

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

Aha! Prof. Lawler has the Starlink total, at least. (9,634 as of today)

https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116010370209633713

jjhuang.car Feb 4

@ai6yr Starlink's satellites are really annoying during stargazing. If people take a photo for stars, those satellites would be even more annoying.

@ai6yr @planet4589 Hey, @sundogplanets - if you have a moment.

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@mhoye @planet4589 @sundogplanets She just send out the Starlink total as I was typing out my message! Great timing!

@ai6yr @planet4589

this'll update your Starlink numbers anyway

https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116010370209633713

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@MsMerope @planet4589 Thanks!!!

@ai6yr @planet4589 and I guess maybe if you scan her feed you may find more numbers?

@ai6yr @planet4589 He's mostly active on Bluesky these days. @sundogplanets occasionally boosts his posts on Masto, but she's down in New Zealand on a speaking tour at the moment. (She's likely got a running total.)

SooJinL ⚽️🐈🫖🚲🧶🪡😷Feb 4

@ai6yr @planet4589 Prof. Lawler @sundogplanets might know.

Ariaflame Feb 4

@ai6yr @planet4589 Heavens-above has a database, but it gives a searchable list, not a total.

@ai6yr @planet4589 @sundogplanets

Recently updated master list off McDoweell's website, though you'll have to trim out the stuff that already fell back to earth.

https://www.planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/cat/satcat.html

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@jbaggs @planet4589 @sundogplanets Thanks!!

planet4589 (Jonathan McDowell)Feb 4

@ai6yr @jbaggs @sundogplanets You may want to just look at https://planet4589.org/space/stats/

Jonathan's Space Report | Space Statistics

Jonathan McDowell's new homepage

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@planet4589 @jbaggs @sundogplanets THANKS! This is perfect. I was trying to explain to students the distribution of satellites in what orbits, this looks perfect, thanks! (teaching a class of Remote Sensing to undergrads...)

@planet4589 @ai6yr @sundogplanets I'm bookmarking that. Thanks!

Tom - KB9ENS Feb 4

@ai6yr https://www.space-track.org/auth/login scoreboard doesn’t require login. Total resident space object count is 49,800.

Space-Track.org

Space-Track.Org

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@kb9ens Thanks!

Tom - KB9ENS Feb 4

@ai6yr Tabular for those who don’t want to visit a USG website.

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@kb9ens Thanks! I borrowed some slides from someone else's presentation and realized how out of date the numbers were, lol...

Tom - KB9ENS Feb 4

@ai6yr Lovely GAO report from a few years ago has some nice vis aids and also talks about the department’s efforts to replace SPADOC. Fascinating stuff… that the public isn’t really aware of much. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105920.pdf

AI6YR Ben Feb 4

@kb9ens The slides I borrowed (admittedly 10 years old, lol) had a small fraction of what is up there now (!!!).

@ai6yr @planet4589 @sundogplanets
Celestrak's box score puts it at around 24k payloads, 14k of those "active"

https://celestrak.org/satcat/boxscore.php

CelesTrak: SATCAT Boxscore

JWcph, Radicalized By Decency Feb 4

@ai6yr @planet4589 I have a feeling that maybe @sundogplanets can answer that...?

Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)

@ai6yr @planet4589 @sundogplanets
I have credible information that there are at least a dozen up there!

Stephen Hoffman Feb 4

@ai6yr plans for one million satellites just filed with US FCC:

https://spacenews.com/spacex-files-plans-for-million-satellite-orbital-data-center-constellation/

SpaceX orbital data centers, supposedly.

That, and as fodder for live-testing Kessler’s scenario, and live-testing metals in the upper atmosphere, and probably for occasionally plonking unlucky Terrans and terrain.

SpaceX files plans for million-satellite orbital data center constellation

SpaceX is seeking FCC approval for a satellite constellation of unprecedented scale intended to function as an orbital data center.

SpaceNews