Huge numbers of artificial satellites orbiting Earth; many more set to be launched: Report

Over years, number of satellites launched into space has increased significantly to collect accurate and relevant data for various missions, including scientific research, wear forecasting, military support, Positioning, Navigation, Earth imaging, communications, climate and environmental monitoring. According to Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), approximately 3,300 operational artificial satellites are currently orbiting Earth. SpaceX's Starlink will control as many as 11,926 satellites in Gen 1 launches, whereas it will launch 30,000 ditional satellites into orbit in Gen 2. 

In 2020, as many as 1,283 satellites were launched, most number of satellite launches in a single year compared to all previous years. However, as of April 2021, about 850 satellites were launched, which is 66.25% more than 2020. reliance of various industries on satellite data has caused figures to rise year after year. major objective of active satellites is to collect various s of data. While some are only used for a single operation, ors are used for multiple operations, stated a report by Geospatial World. 

Industries across  world set to launch huge numbers of satellites

Meanwhile, according to a report published by Space.com, industries worldwide are planning to launch massive numbers of satellites into space in coming years to provide global high internet access. And this connectivity comes at risk of space's cleanliness, which might taint cosmic studies and pollute sky, claimed report. A group of researchers has also looked at effects of se spacecraft and possible mitigation techniques. 

researchers noted that an astronomer utilising world's greatest telescopes to capture lightest objects in sky would be greatly hampered by massive constellations. However, supporters of se mega-constellations of orbiting satellites say that satellites' high altitudes will reduce ir impact on astronomy, and only specific sorts of observation programmes will be affected. According to NASA, millions of pieces of junk travel in Low Earth orbit (LEO), including spacecraft, small particles of paint from spacecraft, portions of rockets and satellites that are eir de or lost, and objects that are results of space explosions. It should be mentioned here that top ten countries in satellite industry are United States, China, Russia, United Kingdom, Japan, India, European Space Agency, Cana, Germany, and Luxembourg.

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