Live count
How many satellites does the United States have?
As of 6 October 2026, 02:10 UTC, the catalogue records 12,523 active satellites for the United States, 75.3 percent of the catalogue's active satellites.
See also: all owners ranked, China, United Kingdom, CIS (former USSR), Japan.
What makes up this fleet
Recorded as "United States", the largest fleet among 99 owners. Starlink makes up 11,143 of them; the other 1,380 are not Starlink.
Name families
Our own grouping by the run of two or more letters that starts each catalogue name ("DMC3" counts as DMC); where the catalogue uses more than one prefix for a fleet, we do not merge them. 15 of these satellites (0.1 percent) have no name family: 5 have only a launch designator so far; 10 have names that do not start with two or more letters, such as M-SEL/CORTEZ, N1-ATLAS and N2-P-BODY.
| Family | Satellites | Share (percent) | Main orbit group | Most common CelesTrak group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARLINK | 11,143 | 89.0 | Low | Broadband internet |
| KUIPER | 391 | 3.1 | Low | Broadband internet |
| FLOCK | 92 | 0.7 | Low | Earth observation |
| LEMUR | 82 | 0.7 | Low | Earth observation |
| IRIDIUM | 80 | 0.6 | Low | Communications |
| PRAETORIAN | 42 | 0.3 | Low | Military |
| NAVSTAR | 40 | 0.3 | Medium | Search and rescue |
| HAWK | 39 | 0.3 | Low | Engineering test |
| SDA | 21 | 0.2 | Low | None recorded |
| USA | 19 | 0.2 | Geostationary | Geostationary |
| 242 other families | 559 | 4.5 | ||
| No name family | 15 | 0.1 |
The group is the CelesTrak list a satellite is in, as the collector maps those lists to purposes; a satellite in several lists gets only one of them, so a family's group need not describe its mission.
Launched in the last 30 days
82 of these satellites were launched in the 30 days before the data time. All 82 have a name in the catalogue.
| Launch date | Satellites | Named | Only a launch designator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2026 | 27 | STARLINK-36683, STARLINK-36777, STARLINK-36778 and 24 more | None |
| 11 September 2026 | 1 | GLOBAL-36 | None |
| 20 September 2026 | 27 | STARLINK-38301, STARLINK-38320, STARLINK-38321 and 24 more | None |
| 28 September 2026 | 26 | STARLINK-40075, STARLINK-40076, STARLINK-40077 and 23 more | None |
| 2 October 2026 | 1 | CREW DRAGON 13 | None |
Orbit groups
The United States leans towards low Earth orbit: 98.5 percent of its fleet against 95.1 percent of the catalogue. Groups as defined under how these numbers are made.
| Orbit group | Satellites | Share (percent) | Catalogue share (percent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low (below 2,000 km) | 12,341 | 98.5 | 95.1 |
| Geostationary belt | 110 | 0.9 | 3.4 |
| Medium (2,000 to 35,585 km) | 47 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| High elliptical (e 0.25+) | 16 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Beyond geostationary | 9 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Map at the data time
Positions at 02:10 UTC are approximate (how). 244 within 1 degree of the equator (64 geostationary) are not placed north or south. Busiest band of the rest: 30 to 60 degrees north, 25.0 percent; 50.4 percent north of the equator. Satellites closer than 0.1 degree share a dot, so the map has 12,494 dots.
Purposes
The most common recorded purpose is Broadband internet, with 11,507 satellites, 91.9 percent. After it come Earth observation (229), Communications (115) and Geostationary (76).
| Purpose | Satellites |
|---|---|
| Broadband internet | 11,507 |
| Unspecified | 381 |
| Earth observation | 229 |
| Communications | 115 |
| Geostationary | 76 |
| Amateur radio | 61 |
| Search and rescue | 26 |
| Military | 22 |
| All other purposes | 106 |
Launch years
Most of them, 90.7 percent, were launched in 2022 or later. The launch year with the most of them is 2025, with 3,542.
| Launch year | Satellites |
|---|---|
| Earlier | 125 |
| 2012 | 9 |
| 2013 | 17 |
| 2014 | 14 |
| 2015 | 22 |
| 2016 | 27 |
| 2017 | 66 |
| 2018 | 57 |
| 2019 | 36 |
| 2020 | 190 |
| 2021 | 597 |
| 2022 | 1,455 |
| 2023 | 1,865 |
| 2024 | 1,974 |
| 2025 | 3,542 |
| 2026 | 2,527 |
Earliest launches among satellites the catalogue lists as active:
| Launch date | Satellites |
|---|---|
| 6 October 1964 | CALSPHERE 1 and CALSPHERE 2 |
| 6 May 1965 | LCS 1 |
| 13 August 1965 | CALSPHERE 4A and TEMPSAT 1 |
How this was counted
12,523 of the 16,622 satellites on the count page carry the owner "United States". Starlink here means a name containing STARLINK. Full method: how these numbers are made.
Questions
Where does the United States rank among satellite owners?
First. China follows with 1,541.
How much of this fleet is Starlink?
89.0 percent. Starlink alone is 67.0 percent of our whole count.
How many were launched in the last 30 days?
82 of the 154 active satellites launched in the 30 days before the data time.
Sources
CelesTrak: active list, SATCAT, owner codes, status codes.