Earth-watching satellites

1,647 satellites in orbit, 1,223 operating.

The count is the catalogue’s as of Nov 10, 2026, 12:17 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

An Earth-watching satellite looks down: the weather satellites GOES-19 and Meteosat-12, the Earth science missions Terra and Landsat 9. Otherwise the kind is the one GCAT gives a payload whose purpose is imaging, radar imaging, weather, Earth science or geodesy.

A satellite’s kind is the one Orbinauts writes for it, else its constellation’s, else the one its purpose in GCAT gives.

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SatelliteKindOrbit classLaunchedOperating
ESSA 9 (TOS-G)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 8 (TOS-F)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
COSMOS 256Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 4078 (DMSP 4B F2)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 7 (TOS-E)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 7869 (DMSP 4B F1)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
COSMOS 203Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
EXPLORER 36 (GEOS 2)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 6 (TOS-D)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 1264 (DMSP 4A F4)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 7202 (DMSP 4A F3)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 9 (EGRS 9)Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 5Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
DIADEME 2Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
DIADEME 1Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 6073 (DMSP 4A F2)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 4 (TOS-B)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 8 (EGRS 8)Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 3 (TOS-A)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 6026 (DMSP 4A F1)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 7 (EGRS 7)Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
NIMBUS 2Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 0340Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 2 (OT-2)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
DIAPASON (D1-A)Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
ESSA 1 (OT-3)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
EXPLORER 29 (GEOS 1)Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
OPS 8068Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 5 (EGRS 5)Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 10Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 4 (EGRS 4)Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 3Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 9Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded
COSMOS 44Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 4467 BEarth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 4467 AEarth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 3367 BEarth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
OPS 3367 AEarth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
SECOR 1BEarth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 8Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
ANNA 1BEarth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 6Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
FTV 3502Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 5Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 4Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
TIROS 3Earth-watching satelliteLow Earth orbitEnded
VANGUARD 2Earth-watching satelliteMedium Earth orbitEnded