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 994 as of 12/31/11

The UCS Satellite Database is a listing of the more than 900 operational satellites currently in orbit around Earth. Our intent in producing the database is to create a research tool for specialists and non-specialists alike by collecting open-source information on operational satellites and presenting it in a format that can be easily manipulated for research and analysis. It is available as both a downloadable Excel file and in a tab-delimited text format. A version is provided, as well, in which the "Name" column contains only the official name of the satellite in the case of government and military satellites, and the most commonly used name in the case of commercial and civil satellites. The database is updated roughly quarterly. It includes basic information about the satellites and their orbits, but does not contain the detailed information necessary to locate individual satellites.

The UCS Satellite Database is the only free, comprehensive compilation of active satellites in an easy to manipulate, commonly-used database format. Users can find information about a particular satellite; identify sets of satellites having a common characteristic, such as altitude or mission; and sort or aggregate data about the whole population of satellites. Users can answer questions such as:

How many satellites does a given country have in orbit, and what are they used for?
How many satellites are used for military purposes versus commercial purposes?
Which countries have earth-observing satellites?
When was the oldest working satellite launched?