15/31: Which country has the most satellites in orbit?
Finland just put its first satellite in orbit, becoming the 56th country with a satellite orbiting our earth. There are approximately 1100 functional satellites in orbit (including non-functional the number will go up to more than 3,600), that belong not only to countries but to space agencies like ESA (European Space Agency) or the International Space Station.
Satellites have become a normal part of our lives. What Sputnik 1 started in 1957 became not only a race for conquering the stars but as an easy way to broadcast TV, give signal to cellular phones, offer internet to people in remote areas, photograph our earth to create maps, give a precise location for anyone with a GPS, give a better prediction for weather, look the space for new planets or stars, and many more applications.
What country has the most satellites at this moment? Well, according to NY20, at this moment Russia is winning the race with 1492 registered satellites, USA is the second one just 22 satellites behind with 1470, and in the third place we find China with 242.
What about private owned satellites? According to NY20, Globalstar holds the first place with 84, followed by Orbcomm with 41 satellites. Globalstar offers mainly phone and internet services via its private satellite constellation. While Orbcomm offers mainly IoT solutions, tracking movable assets of companies with GPS.
And if we talk about public organizations, which hold the first place? In that the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO) is the most logic candidate, with 149 countries being part of it, it owns and controls 84 satellites, followed by the European Space Agency with 74, twenty-two countries are part of this agency.
But Europe has more than just one agency in control of their satellites, the ESA is the one with most but after that, the Societe Europeenne des Satellites has 52, and the European Teleccommunications Satellite Organization has 50 satellites, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites has 8. So in total European organizations have 194 orbiting our earth.
What about multinational satellites? In some cases countries associate to put a satellite together, the first one is between China-Brazil with three, after that tied in second place Germany-France, Singapore-Taiwan and France-Italy with two, and in third place Turkmenistan-Monaco (WTH) and Brazil-USA with one as well.
What are these satellites for? Well, most of them are used for GPS tracking, they stay still in one place and are used to triangulate the position of the users using other satellites information. Others are used for weather predictions, constantly monitoring the patterns of weather around their designated areas. One of the most popular commercial users are for TV providers like Sky.
Are they satellites in other planets? Sure, the human exploration doesn’t end here. Mars is the planet with most satellites, currently six of them are orbiting our closest brother. Jupiter has Juno orbiting its polar region. Saturn, is being studied by Cassini and it’s orbiting the popular rings of the gas planet. The small dwarf planet Ceres has one as well, Dawn arrived there two years ago after orbiting an asteroid. And even when it’s not a planet our Moon has three satellites constantly observing its surface.
The hunger for knowledge is part of the human nature, looking up and wondering what’s there has been a crucial part of our evolution, now we live in an era where this is possible and we are just starting. Satellites is an extension of that curiosity, the only way we know at this moment for studying what’s out there. We are somehow lucky to be witnesses of the start of the space exploration.
This story is part of my 31/31 challenge. Following a friend’s idea I will publish at least one story every day for the next month.
If you see any error please let me know, the idea is to stop over-reviewing my stories before publishing them.
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