A sky full of satellites
“Look out below: What will happen to the space debris in orbit?”
Almost every week, it seems, a company or government is announcing a new space concept or flight. About 70,000 satellites could soon enter orbit if proposed plans come to fruition—and even if all the proposed constellations fail to deploy, many more satellites will be in space. Unless actively deorbited, some could stay there for up to hundreds of years.
For more on space debris, see
Current as of August 2021. These are general estimates. Includes proposed sizes and planned extensions; does not reflect Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval of constellations. We have not yet analyzed the feasibility of all constellations, and some plans may not come to fruition.
Source: Company websites; FCC filings; press search
¹
About 11,000 satellites
have been launched in
the 64 years since
Sputnik 1 in 1957
O3b mPower
90
AST & Science
170
Inmarsat
175
Viasat
290
KLEO
300
Kepler
360
Mangata
790
Telesat
1,600
Kupier
3,400
OneWeb
6,400
Other
15,000
Starlink
42,000
more could enter orbit soon if proposed plans materialize
~70,000
Proposed constellation size by group,¹ number (estimated, not exhaustive)
Over 70,000 more satellites could soon enter orbit if plans come to fruition.
Charting the future