Q 2.14 How many functional satellites are there in orbit?
According to 2016 Satellite Industry Organization (www.sia.org), there were a total of nearly 1486 operational satellites at the end of the year 2016 of which 520 were in geostationary orbit. Their distribution in usage (rounded) is approximated as follows:
Communications
Earth observation
Government communication
Research & Development
Navigation
Military surveillance
Scientific
Meteorology
Non-profit communication
Space observation
35%
19%
14%
12%
7%
6%
5%
2%
1%
1%