Satellites of Japan (Nippon), State of

221 satellites in orbit, 121 operating.

The count is the catalogue’s as of Nov 9, 2026, 4:17 PM; whether a satellite is operating is as Orbinauts writes it where it has written when the satellite’s mission ended, and otherwise as Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue believes it, licensed CC BY 4.0: GCAT

GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue (CC BY 4.0), credits these satellites to Japan (Nippon), State of under the code J.

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SatelliteKindOrbit classLaunchedOperating
BS-2B (YURI 2B)Communications satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
HIMAWARI 3 (GMS 3)Earth-watching satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
YURI 2A (BS-2A)Communications satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
SAKURA 2B (CS-2B)Communications satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
SAKURA 2A (CS-2A)Communications satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
KIKU 4 (ETS 3)Communications satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
HIMAWARI 2 (GMS 2)Earth-watching satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
KIKU 3 (ETS 4)Not knownHighly elliptical orbitEnded
AYAME 2 (ECS-2)Communications satelliteHighly elliptical orbitEnded
AYAME 1 (ECS 1)Communications satelliteHighly elliptical orbitEnded
YURI (BSE)Communications satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
UME 2 (ISS-B)Not knownLow Earth orbitEnded
KYOKKO 1 (EXOS A)Not knownMedium Earth orbitEnded
SAKURA 1A (CS-1A)Communications satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
HIMAWARI 1 (GMS 1)Earth-watching satelliteInclined geosynchronousEnded
KIKU 2 (ETS 2)Communications satelliteGeostationaryEnded
TANSEI 3 (MS-T3)Not knownMedium Earth orbitEnded
UME 1 (ISS 1)Not knownLow Earth orbitEnded
KIKU 1 (ETS 1)Not knownLow Earth orbitEnded
SHINSEI (MS-F2)Not knownLow Earth orbitEnded
TANSEI 1 (MS-T1)Not knownLow Earth orbitEnded