How many Starlink satellites are in orbit?

As of Sep 20, 2026, 12:24 AM UTC

Why other sites give a different number

Space-Track keeps a Starlink that has stopped working in the catalogue until it burns up in the atmosphere, which takes months, so the figure above holds the ones that have stopped as well as the ones still working. A site that counts only the satellites SpaceX still uses publishes a smaller number: neither count is wrong, they are not counting the same thing.

Cite this

Copy either form. The date is the date of the figures above, so it stays true even if you are reading a saved copy.

In a sentence
…according to Orbinauts (orbinauts.com), counted from Space-Track’s catalogue.
As a footnote
Orbinauts, How many Starlink satellites are in orbit, orbinauts.com/how-many-starlink-satellites-in-orbit, orbits from Space-Track, retrieved September 20, 2026.
Under a chart or a table
Source: Orbinauts (orbinauts.com), orbits from Space-Track

What the number means

How are Starlink and the other names counted?
By the first word of the name the catalogue gives, followed by a hyphen or a space, and only for satellites: STARLINK-1007 and IRIDIUM 106 count, a rocket body left behind by a Starlink launch does not.
What counts as a satellite here?
Anything the catalogue classes as a payload: a spacecraft launched to do a job, whether or not it still does it. That is the catalogue’s own class, not a judgement about whether the satellite still answers.
When does an object drop out of the count?
When its published orbit is more than 30 days old, or Space-Track records that it has decayed. The count is taken again from Space-Track at every refresh, so an object comes back if a fresh orbit is published for it.
Why is there no count of working satellites?
Because the catalogue does not say whether a satellite works, and Orbinauts publishes nothing it cannot check. The counts of working satellites that do exist are given above with the dates they were read.
How often does the number change?
Every 4 hours, when Orbinauts takes a new catalogue from Space-Track and counts it. The date above is the refresh the figures on this page were counted at.