
News Link • Communications
How many satellites are in space?
• https://www.linkedin.com, Donal O'SullivanAccording to the website "Orbit Now", there are over 12,000 active satellites orbiting, with over 8000 used for communications.
Then there is the amount of debris in space, the Space Surveillance Networks track and catalogue about 40,000 pieces of debris objects.
"the actual number of space debris objects larger than 1 cm in size – large enough to be capable of causing catastrophic damage – is estimated to be over 1.2 million, with over 50,000 objects of those larger than 10 cm" - European Space Agency - ESA
With the likes of Amazon ramping up their low Earth orbit satellite broadband network with "Project Kuiper", how quickly is this number going to rise?
(Amazon have approval for 3,236 satellites but need to launch half these by end of June 2026).