YFarmX Space · Satellites

Satellites

The working machines of orbit: constellations, Earth observation, communications and navigation, and the ground segment that keeps them useful.

State of play3missions on this page19tracked across the section05 Sept 2026last verified

On this page · 3Every mission written up below, with its phase and destination.

orbitalNISAR · ISRO / NASA · Earth orbit
orbitalStarlink constellation · SpaceX · Low Earth orbit
orbitalGPS III · US Space Force / Lockheed Martin · Medium Earth orbit

The hardware

Communications satellite

Foil-wrapped bus, twin deployable arrays and a steerable main dish.

A foil-wrapped box bus with two solar wings on a single rotation axis
The steerable main dish points at Earth; two smaller horn feeds sit beside it
A radiator on the anti-sun face and a station-keeping thruster cluster at the base

Illustration · class archetype · real geometry

The mission records, in full

NISAR

orbital operations

ISRO / NASA · Earth orbit

The NASA-ISRO radar observatory is in its science phase, mapping change across Earth's land and ice, with S-band data now flowing to users.

NISAR, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission, launched on 30 July 2025 on ISRO's GSLV-F16 and has entered its science phase. ISRO's site notes that S-band SAR data products are now available to users, and the agency is running training on SAR data analysis alongside its wider programme. The dual-frequency radar observatory maps changes to Earth's land and ice surfaces.

last verified 22 Aug 2026 · Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech, restyled

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Starlink satellite trails crossing a telescope image of the night sky above Cerro Tololo, Chile.

Starlink constellation

orbital operations

SpaceX · Low Earth orbit

The largest satellite system ever flown: 11,078 working satellites on the independent count as of 31 August 2026, with third-generation hardware now flying on Starship.

Jonathan McDowell's independent tracking catalogue recorded 11,078 working Starlink satellites in orbit as of 31 August 2026, comprising 3,191 first-generation and 7,887 second-generation spacecraft. The first 20 third-generation V3 satellites deployed from Starship's thirteenth flight test on 24 July 2026; that flight flew a suborbital trajectory, so the catalogue records them as a deployment demonstration rather than satellites entering service. The fleet serving customers today remains the first two generations, launched on Falcon 9.

Next: Further V3 deployments on future Starship flights; no confirmed date

last verified 05 Sept 2026 · Image: NSF NOIRLab/CTIO/AURA/DELVE, CC BY 4.0

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GPS III

orbital operations

US Space Force / Lockheed Martin · Medium Earth orbit

The block that completed America's navigation constellation: the tenth and final GPS III satellite launched in April 2026, taking the active fleet to 32.

The US Space Force completed the GPS III block on 21 April 2026 with the launch of the tenth satellite, stating the constellation now stands at 32 active spacecraft with added redundancy. Lockheed Martin, which builds the satellites in Denver, is under contract for 12 next-generation GPS IIIF spacecraft, and says GPS IIIF will add a Regional Military Protection signal with over 60 times the anti-jam capability of legacy vehicles for qualified military users.

Next: GPS IIIF production, 12 satellites under contract at Lockheed Martin

last verified 22 Aug 2026 · Image: US Air Force, restyled

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Latest coverage

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