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Satellite orbits

As of Nov 11, 2026, 19,145 of the 22,484 intact objects in orbit fly in low Earth orbit, below 2,000 km, and so do 16,476 of the 17,345 active satellites (95%).

Medium orbit, where the navigation fleets fly around 20,000 km up, holds 647. The geosynchronous ring, 35,786 km above the equator, holds 1,699, and highly elliptical orbits 993.

Data as of Nov 11, 2026 · CelesTrak SATCAT (orbits and status) · Rebuilt every day · Methods

19,145
Low Earth orbit
16,476 of them active satellites.
647
Medium Earth orbit
188 of them active satellites.
1,699
Geosynchronous orbit
624 of them active satellites.
993
Highly elliptical orbit
57 of them active satellites.

How orbits filled up

Each band is the number of objects in that orbit class at year's end. The whole stack is everything in orbit, so one picture shows both how fast space filled up and which orbits it filled: low orbit dominates, and the recent surge is the megaconstellations.

Objects in orbit by orbit class, 1957 to today
Tracked payloads and rocket bodies still in orbit at each year's end, stacked by orbit class.
05k10k15k20k25k1960198020002020LEO: 19,145 in orbit todayLEO · 19,145MEO: 647 in orbit todayMEO · 647GEO: 1,699 in orbit todayGEO · 1,699HEO: 993 in orbit todayHEO · 993
Low Earth orbit holds the overwhelming majority: 19,145 of the 22,484 intact objects in orbit today. Reconstructed from launch and decay dates, so the 2026 edge matches the live counts above.Source: CelesTrak SATCAT.

Orbit classes today

The four classes as they stand today, ranked by how many objects are still up there.

Orbit classes, Nov 11, 2026. Tracked since 1957 includes the objects that have reentered.
Orbit classIn orbitActive satellitesTracked since 1957
LEO (< 2,000 km)19,14516,47630,740
GEO (geosynchronous)1,6996241,699
Highly elliptical993571,228
MEO647188739
The guide · 11 min read

How orbits actually work

An orbit is not a place, it is a speed. Get that one idea and everything else follows: why higher satellites are slower, why a spy satellite and a television satellite look nothing alike, and why the hardest thing in spaceflight is not going up but changing direction once you are there.

  1. 1A satellite is falling, and missing
  2. 2Higher means slower
  3. 3The shape: apogee, perigee, eccentricity
  4. 4The tilt, and why it decides the job
  5. 5The four neighbourhoods
  6. 6Nothing stays put
  7. 7Changing orbit is expensive
Read the guide →

Watch it in 3D

See it on the globe

See the orbits in motionOpens the 3D atlas colored by orbit class: the low shells hug the globe, the geostationary ring hangs far out, and the timeline replays how each one filled.