Positions of Satellites Around Earth. Incredible.

Alright, I never knew that we had sooo many Satellites around Earth. Take a look at this video so you can actually see how many there are.





Google Earth Satellites

This collection by Analytic Graphics Inc. shows real-time (updated every 30 seconds) positions of 13,000 satellites around the Earth. The positions come from a government sponsored database which shows all satellites tracked in real-time. You get the idea that our near-earth space is getting kind of cluttered don't you? Read about space debris.

Well, if those shots were to scale, some of those satellites are the size of small countries. But the shots are not to scale, and if they were scaled in relation to the size of the earth in the shot, they would be smaller than a pixel. I did some calcs a while back and concluded that if all the satellites in orbit were distributed evenly across the surface of the Earth, both land and water, there would be less than one per square mile.

reply to post by abecedarian

Regardless of scale, the fact remains... That's a LOT of damn satellites!!! I had no idea there were so many.

It's hard to imagine what they're all used for. It's also hard to imagine that passing rockets, shuttles, meteors, etc. don't hit a dozen or so satellites every time they move!

Imagine the incredible full-mesh data network you could build from all of these orbiting nodes... The first Starbucks in space will definitely have Wi-Fi

that is nutz! UFOs must have some seriously advanced quantum navigational computers in order to know where everything is at all times in order to steer proper courses... maybe that's why you always see UFOs zig zagging... just getting out of the way of junk!

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I was just thinking earlier today that if I had an extra 50 million dollars or so, I would try and put my own satellite up there for some uncensored space and moon photography Maybe someone will develop an early warning collision repeller beam eventually..

reply to post by DamaSan


Yeah I'd like to know what they are all used for.

Sheesh almost like having one right above you at all times. THEY ARE SPYING ON US!.

Originally posted by prevenge
that is nutz! UFOs must have some seriously advanced quantum navigational computers in order to know where everything is at all times in order to steer proper courses... maybe that's why you always see UFOs zig zagging... just getting out of the way of junk!

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And some people wonder why we haven't gone back to the moon

wow just crazy, I wonder if they can clean up all that mess with a space nuke.

reply to post by DamaSan

If you use the term satellite to refer to an object in orbit around Earth, yes there are thousands of them. But a whole lot of them are doing nothing but going around...and around...and around the Earth. Dead.
Vanguard I (NORAD no. 5!) launched in 1958 is still up there going around...and around...and around.

Here's a list through April 2010:
www.planet4589.org...

what this lookes like is stars dont exist haha

I just wonder how many more are we going to put in orbit.

13,000 is alot. Especially when each of those satellites had or have a reason for being in orbit in the first place.
I can't even think of 50 reason why they're there, but they are.

Originally posted by DamaSan
reply to post by abecedarian

 

Regardless of scale, the fact remains... That's a LOT of damn satellites!!! I had no idea there were so many.

It's hard to imagine what they're all used for. It's also hard to imagine that passing rockets, shuttles, meteors, etc. don't hit a dozen or so satellites every time they move!

Imagine the incredible full-mesh data network you could build from all of these orbiting nodes... The first Starbucks in space will definitely have Wi-Fi

edit on 13-9-2010 by DamaSan because: spelling edits

Not going to argue, there are many things circling around up there....

If you assume the earth diameter is 12750 km, it's radius is 6375 km. Concurrently, if you assume low earth orbit is 1000 km above the surface, that would put LEO at 7375 km above the center of Earth. A sphere with a radius of 7375 would have a surface area of 4*pi*(r^2), or 4*3.14159*(7375*7375) or 4*3.14159*(54390625) or 4*(170873043.59375) or 683,492,174.375 square miles... for 13,000 satellites to occupy, and that's assuming they all exist at the same altitude, which they don't.

Get that? 13 thousand satellites spread over 683 million square miles. If you factor it down, that's like 13 people spread over 683 thousand square miles. Well, either that or my math is way off.

Suddenly doesn't sound as crowded as it once did.

Originally posted by Oozii
>snip<

I can't even think of 50 reason why they're there, but they are.

GPS? Telecom relay... television relay... weather....
That's not 50 reasons but likely sufficient reasons for having at least 50 satellites in orbit, if not an exponential number of sats.

Originally posted by abecedarian

Originally posted by Oozii
>snip<

I can't even think of 50 reason why they're there, but they are.

GPS? Telecom relay... television relay... weather....
That's not 50 reasons but likely sufficient reasons for having at least 50 satellites in orbit, if not an exponential number of sats.

13,000 Satellites in orbit = 13,000 Reason's they were put in orbit. Some will be for the same reason. Every satellite has a reason it was launched.

I just couldn't think of 50 different reason's, let alone 13,000.

reply to post by abecedarian


Never said it was/wasn't crowded... my comment about rockets and shuttles running into things was for humor only. I fully understand that there is plenty of room to hold all of these objects. My big point is... that's a LOT of objects!!

i wonder how many belong to google?

dont for get all the junk and rubbish.
if you went in to space with out help from NASA.
all that junk would hit you!
I would bet they have rail guns on some satellites.
so NASA owns space!

hmm! they could have sent small ships.
or send rocks up from earth.
and use rockets to fire the big rock
on to any one they wont to wipe out.
it would be easy.

have you seen the picks of the sun.
where you can see around the sun?
you can see LOTS of asteroids going all over!
I counted 22 on one pic.

Originally posted by buddha
dont for get all the junk and rubbish.
if you went in to space with out help from NASA.
all that junk would hit you!

Very true. There are some that are so concerned about the space-junk problem that they say we might not be able to leave Earth if it gets any worse...

Space junk, space debris, space waste — call it what you want, but just as junk and waste cause problems here on Earth, in space spent booster stages, nuts and bolts from ISS construction, various accidental discards such as spacesuit gloves and cameras, and fragments from exploded spacecraft could turn into a serious problem for the future of spaceflight if actions to mitigate the threat are not taken now. The European Space Operations Centre has put together some startling images highlighting this issue.

Source: UniverseToady.com
More great pics at the source page.

good thread.

With all those satelites... how the ef is it that a child can go missing and not be found???? I mention McCain here... GoogleEarth can zoom right up to the resort so why the heck can't the girl be found???

I think about it when I watch the night sky, you can tell which ones are satelites very easily... I sometimes even wave at them. They have the technology to take close up pics of anywhere on the planet.

How the ef can they not find a person?? Bin Laden etc.

I wonder if someday there will be some sort of international treaty that would require ALL satellites to have provisions for a fiery burn-up re-entry after its useful life is over -- i.e., making it "illegal" to abandon a spent satellite in place...

...Then again, if that became the norm, we would all be talking about the rain storm of satellite pieces over the Indian Ocean