How Many Starlink Satellites Are in Orbit Right Now?
There are 11,139 active Starlink satellites in orbit right now, according to the live count at the top of this page, last refreshed on October 7, 2026. That is more than every other satellite operator in the world combined: Starlink alone makes up 67% of the 16,612 active satellites orbiting Earth. For the full picture, see how many satellites are in orbit right now.
Not every Starlink in orbit is serving customers at any given moment. Some are still climbing to their final altitude after launch, some are drifting to a new position and others are being lowered for disposal. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks every Starlink individually, breaks the fleet down like this:
| Status | Satellites | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Launched in total | 12,988 | Every Starlink ever launched, including prototypes |
| Still in orbit | 11,156 | Launched and not yet re-entered, working or not |
| Working | 11,142 | In orbit and not considered failed |
| In an operational shell | 9,727 | At their final working altitude |
| Climbing after launch | 235 | Raising their orbit towards their shell |
| Being retired | 151 | Lowering their orbit to burn up |
| Re-entered | 1,832 | Already burned up in the atmosphere |
Source: Jonathan McDowell, Starlink statistics, data of 2 October 2026. Some satellites outside the operational shells still provide service.
How Many Starlink Satellites Have Been Launched?
SpaceX had launched 12,988 Starlink satellites by 2 October 2026. The first batch of 60 went up in May 2019, after two test prototypes in 2018. Since then SpaceX has launched Starlinks in batches of roughly 20 to 30 at a time on its Falcon 9 rocket, often several times a week, and the first satellites of the much larger third generation are now in orbit as well.
The chart shows when the Starlinks that are active today were launched. 2,163 of them went up in 2026, and relatively few of the early satellites remain, because SpaceX retires them after about five years.
Live data, last updated October 7, 2026. Satellites that have already re-entered are not included.
Starlink Shells: Where the Satellites Fly
Starlink satellites are grouped in shells: sets of orbits at a similar height and the same tilt, or inclination, to the equator. The inclination decides how far north and south a shell reaches. A 53° shell covers the band where most people live, while the polar shell passes over the whole planet.
Live data, grouped by each satellite's current orbital inclination.
How High Do Starlink Satellites Orbit?
The typical Starlink satellite orbits about 466 km above the ground, roughly 40 times lower than GPS satellites and 75 times lower than geostationary satellites. Flying this low keeps the delay of each signal short, which is why Starlink feels like a normal broadband connection, but it means each satellite only covers a small area, so thousands are needed.
The constellation is getting lower. In January 2026, SpaceX announced that it would move the roughly 4,400 satellites flying at about 550 km down to about 480 km over the course of the year, to reduce the risk of collisions and make sure any satellite that fails falls back to Earth quickly. Newer shells approved by the FCC fly lower still, between 340 and 485 km.
Live data. Most satellites below 330 km are climbing after launch or descending at the end of their life.
How Fast Do Starlink Satellites Travel?
A Starlink satellite at 480 km travels at about 27,400 km/h (17,000 mph), or 7.6 km every second, and circles Earth in about 94 minutes. That is more than 15 laps of the planet every day. The lower a satellite flies, the faster it has to move to stay in orbit:
| Altitude | Speed | One orbit | Orbits per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 340 km (lowest shells) | 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph) | 91 min | 15.8 |
| 480 km (main shells in 2026) | 27,400 km/h (17,050 mph) | 94 min | 15.3 |
| 550 km (original shells) | 27,300 km/h (16,970 mph) | 96 min | 15.1 |
Calculated for circular orbits. From the ground, a Starlink pass lasts a few minutes from horizon to horizon.
Starlink Satellite Generations
SpaceX has improved its satellite design several times. Each generation is bigger and carries more capacity than the last:
- Version 1.0 (2019 to 2021): flat satellites of about 260 kg. Satellites launched from mid-2020 carried a sunshade, called VisorSat, to make them less bright for astronomers.
- Version 1.5 (2021 to 2023): added laser links, so satellites can pass data to each other in space instead of always going through a ground station. The visor was dropped because it blocked the lasers.
- V2 Mini (2023 onwards): much larger satellites of about 800 kg with several times the capacity, using argon-fuelled electric thrusters. Most of today's fleet, about 8,000 satellites in orbit, belongs to this second generation.
- Direct to Cell: V2 Mini satellites with an extra antenna that connects straight to ordinary mobile phones, used by partners such as T-Mobile. McDowell counts 674 launched.
- V3: the third generation, designed to launch on SpaceX's Starship rocket. SpaceX says each V3 satellite has more than ten times the capacity of a V2. McDowell counts 26 V3 satellites in orbit.
How Many Starlink Satellites Will There Be?
Starlink is authorized to keep growing for years. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized about 4,400 first-generation satellites, and on 9 January 2026 it doubled the second-generation authorization from 7,500 to 15,000 satellites. SpaceX originally applied for close to 30,000 second-generation satellites, and the FCC has not ruled on the rest yet.
You may see the figure of 42,000 Starlink satellites. It comes from SpaceX's early plans, which added about 12,000 first-generation satellites to the 30,000 second-generation ones it requested. It is a total SpaceX asked for at one point, not what is authorized today.
The network is growing because demand is. SpaceX said in June 2026 that Starlink had more than 12 million active customers in more than 160 countries and territories, up from 9 million in December 2025.
How Long Do Starlink Satellites Last?
Starlink satellites are designed to last about five years. When a satellite is retired, SpaceX uses its thrusters to lower its orbit until atmospheric drag pulls it down and it burns up. Jonathan McDowell has counted 1,832 Starlinks that have already re-entered, and with thousands of satellites reaching the end of their life, re-entries now happen almost every day.
Starlink satellites are designed to burn up completely, so they are not expected to reach the ground. Scientists are, however, studying the metals that so many re-entries leave in the upper atmosphere, an issue the European Space Agency has flagged as a growing concern. You can follow upcoming re-entries in our satellite re-entry tracker.
How to See Starlink Satellites
Starlink satellites are easy to see with the naked eye, but only at the right time: shortly after sunset or before sunrise, when the satellite is still lit by the Sun while your sky is dark. They look like steady white dots moving smoothly across the sky, with no blinking lights.
The most striking sight is a Starlink train: a line of freshly launched satellites crossing the sky one after another in the days after a launch, before they spread out and climb to their working altitude. Our guide on how to spot a Starlink train explains when and where to look.
To know exactly when Starlinks will pass over you, open Next Passes on SatFleet Live. Premium members can choose Starlink Internet in the satellite types menu, and passes from the same launch are grouped together as a train.
How the Live Count Works
Every two hours, the SatFleet Live server downloads the latest orbits from Space-Track.org, the US Space Force catalogue, and keeps the satellites that CelesTrak lists as active, plus anything launched in the last 30 days. Every satellite whose official name starts with STARLINK is counted here, and its shell, altitude and launch year are worked out from its orbit.
Because CelesTrak still lists satellites that are being raised or retired, the live count is close to McDowell's "in orbit" figure rather than to the number of satellites in their final shells. If the live data cannot be loaded, the page shows the last count checked by our team, with its date.