← on nowLGR-047 · v0.1.0 · model · count satellites: how much, per second and per year
satellites · the sky, being fenced
launched
3,000
a year
9.51e-5
a second
8
a day
working, in orbit right now
~13 00
most belong to one company. around them: 40,000 tracked pieces of debris, and over a million too small to track.
method launch rate from recent years (Jonathan McDowell); active count from CelesTrak/UCS.
- this is the best-kept ledger on the site. every satellite is registered and tracked to the metre. we count the sky better than we count the sea.source: UN Registration Convention; Space-Track; CelesTrak
- almost every number here comes from up there: the fires, the forest, the groundwater, the sea. the thing being counted is also the counter.source: NASA FIRMS; GRACE; Landsat; Copernicus
- when they fall, they burn, and leave aluminium oxide in the stratosphere. early evidence says it eats ozone.source: Ferreira et al. 2024, GRL; Murphy et al. 2023, PNAS
- the sky is getting brighter by about ten percent a year. a child born where 250 stars are visible will see about 100 by the time they are 18.source: Kyba et al. 2023, Science
live. this is the channel itself. embed it anywhere:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?channel=satellites" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · satellites"></iframe>
or the whole broadcast, every channel, the same for everyone:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?embed=1" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · on now, everywhere"></iframe>
how this number is built
- method
- launch rate from recent years (Jonathan McDowell); active count from CelesTrak/UCS.
- range
- 2,500–3,500 launched/yr; 12,000–14,000 active
- confidence
- count
- weakness
- changes monthly; this is the channel most in need of a feed.
- becomes a feed
- Space-Track / CelesTrak, live catalogue
- dispute
- dispute LGR-047 · corrections are credited
- data
- channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0