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How many Starlink satellites are there?

As of October 17, 2026, 11,137 Starlink satellites are active, which is 65% of every active satellite in orbit. SpaceX has launched 13,059 in total, and 1,908 of those have since come back down.

11,137

Active Starlink satellites

65%

Of all active satellites

13,059

Launched in total

1,908

No longer in orbit

A Falcon 9 rocket climbing into a cloudy sky, with the Artemis I rocket standing on its pad at right — A Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites lifts off from Cape Canaveral on April 21, 2022. NASA's Space Launch System rocket for Artemis I stands on Launch Complex 39B at right. Photo: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

In 2025 SpaceX flew 127 launches carrying Starlink, averaging 25 satellites each, which is 3,207 satellites. 2026 has added 2,236 more across 85 launches through October 16.

Starlink satellites launched per year

Starlink satellites launched each year. 2026 is partial, through October 16.

Data table

Starlink launches and satellites by year
Year	Launches	Satellites
2019	2	120
2020	14	833
2021	19	989
2022	34	1,722
2023	63	1,984
2024	90	1,982
2025	127	3,207
2026	85	2,236

How much of orbit it fills

At the end of 2025, 9,388 of the 17,304 payloads in Earth orbit were Starlink, 54% of all of them, working or not. Among satellites that are still active the share is higher, 65%, because the full count also includes older satellites that stopped working but have not come down yet.

That 65% also means the rest of the world's active satellites number 5,964.

Why counts vary

The active figure comes from GCAT's active catalogue, whose status GCAT describes as often a guess for satellites that do not maneuver. Newly launched satellites that are still raising their orbits can be counted as active or left out, depending on the source and the day. Starlink satellites that have been deorbited are counted in the launched total but not the active one.

Sources and method

GCAT by Jonathan McDowell, CC BY 4.0. Active catalogue updated October 17, 2026. Data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat).
A Starlink launch is any orbital launch in the GCAT launch log that carried at least one satellite named Starlink. Launched in total counts every Starlink payload in the current catalogue.