Re: How many satellites are in geosynchronous orbit by now?

Hi, Ed,

Note that not all of the objects listed in near GEO are satellites.
There are also quite a few upper stages that were used to propel
some satellites. Most commercial satellites now have built-in
apogee kick propulsion, but earlier sats and many modern Russian
and U.S. military sats were kicked with upper stages like Blok DM,
IUS, Centaur, and the like that separated from their payloads and
remained in near GEO - though usually moved some distance away
by a final post-separation maneuver.

Yeah I guess there's about as much scrap of there as there are satellites ;) I wonder how they keep updates on which is which of the long dead ones..? And will they give a good enough reflection on a radar to see them?

Another thing I was thinking about: Transponder piracy! Don't those communications sats simply receive some band of RF, shift it up or down some MHz og GHz, and retransmit wholesale? I wonder how much of a chance a pirate would have of stealing some relay capacity, by beaming his uplink in the same band as the owner's one ;) ? ?

Nice catalog at the end of your link. Wow, it seems one or two of those from the 70s are still alive.

Soren
.

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