Overview
Aside from NASA and the United States miltary, the majority of the American satellites are actually launched by commercial companies such as SpaceX, Planet Labs, Spre Global, Iridium and Swarm Technologies. These are the 2769 satellites operated or owned by organizations in USA, based on the interactive table representation of the UCS Satellite Database compiled by the Union of Concerned Scientist (UCS).
Most of these satellites from USA are launched for commercial use (84.7%) and for the purpose of communications (75.3%).Majority of these satellites are LEO satellites, with around 2527 (91.3%) launched so far.
Interactive Chart
More..
Insights from USA's Satellite Dataset
Which year saw the most satellites launched for USA?
Who operates or owns the most satellites in USA?
Which rocket has delivered the most satellites from USA to space?
Which launch site has launched the most satellites from USA to space?
What is the most common type of satellite orbit?
Apogee, Perigee & Period
Satellite Mass
A government satellite, PACE-1 is operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of USA for the purpose of technology demonstration.
Delivered via Falcon 9 (launch vehicle) from Cape Canaveral, it was launched into space on 30 June 2021 and orbits the Earth as a sun-synchronous LEO satellite. PACE-1 was constructed by NASA Ames Research Center (USA).
PACE-1 has a launch mass of 10 kg and navigates with the COSPAR ID 2021-059G and NORAD ID 48909.
Taking 94 minutes to orbit the Earth, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 524km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 536km. The eccentricity of the orbit is 8.70E-04 and it orbits at an inclination of 98 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Heaviest satellite launched by Echostar Satellite Services, LLC into space at 6,900 kg
A commercial satellite, Echostar 21 is operated by Echostar Satellite Services, LLC of USA for the purpose of communications.
Constructed by Space Systems/Loral (USA), it was launched into space on 7 June 2017 using Proton as the launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Echostar 21 orbits around the Earth as a GEO satellite.
With a launch mass of 6,900kg, Echostar 21 is designed to operate in space for a lifetime of 15 years. It orbits around the Earth with the COSPAR ID 2017-032A and NORAD ID 42749.
Echostar 21 orbits along the longitude of 10 degrees at an inclination of 7 degrees.
The satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 35,773km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 35,799km. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 3.08E-04 and it takes 1,436 minutes to orbit the Earth.
ICON.
Second heaviest satellite launched by Pegasus into space at 288 kg
A government satellite, ICON is operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of USA for the purpose of space science.
Delivered via Pegasus (launch vehicle) from Stargazer L-1011, it was launched into space on 11 October 2019 and orbits the Earth as a non-polar inclined LEO satellite. ICON was constructed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (USA).
ICON has a launch mass of 288 kg and navigates with the COSPAR ID 2019-068A and NORAD ID 44628.
With an orbital eccentricity of 1.58E-03, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 579km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 601km. It takes 97 minutes to orbit the Earth at an inclination of 27 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Second heaviest satellite launched by Air Force Research Laboratory into space at 20 kg
Operated by Air Force Research Laboratory of USA, Monolith is a military satellite launched for the purpose of technology development.
Constructed by Space Dynamics Laboratory, Utah State University (USA), it was launched into space on 29 July 2021 using Electron as the launch vehicle from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1. Monolith orbits around the Earth as a non-polar inclined LEO satellite.
Monolith has a launch mass of 20 kg and navigates with the COSPAR ID 2021-068A and NORAD ID 49052.
With an orbital eccentricity of 7.89E-04, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 598km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 609km. It orbits the Earth at an inclination of 37 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Third heaviest satellite launched by USAF Space Test Program into space at 10 kg
A military satellite, STPSat-4 is operated by USAF Space Test Program of USA for the purpose of technology development.
Delivered via Manual deployment (launch vehicle) from International Space Station, it was launched into space on 28 January 2020 and orbits the Earth as a non-polar inclined LEO satellite. STPSat-4 was constructed by USAFSpace Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC)NASA (USA).
Designed with an operational lifetime of 1 years, STPSat-4 has a launch mass of 10 kg and navigates with the COSPAR ID 1998-067QY and NORAD ID 45043.
With an orbital eccentricity of 5.16E-04, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 415km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 422km. It takes 93 minutes to orbit the Earth at an inclination of 52 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
TESS.
TESS is a government satellite operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (USA) for the purpose of space science.
Constructed by NASA/MIT (USA), it was launched into space using Falcon 9 as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral on 18 April 2018. TESS orbits around the Earth as a Elliptical satellite.
TESS has a launch mass of 362 kg and is expected to have a operational lifetime of 20 years. It navigates with the COSPAR ID 2018-038A and NORAD ID 43435.
With an orbital eccentricity of 9.53E-01, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 258km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 268,488km. It takes 8,758 minutes to orbit the Earth at an inclination of 30 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Get more insights from these satellite datasets
Full datasets: All satellites by launch date | The Heaviest Satellites That Are Launched to Space
By Use Type: Civil-use satellites | Commercial satellites | Government satellites | Military satellites
By Country: USA | UK | France | Germany | Japan | China | Russia | Australia | Canada
By Orbit Class/Type: LEO satellites | MEO satellites | GEO satellites | Elliptical orbit | Polar orbit | Equatorial orbit | Non-polar inclined orbit | Sun-synchronous orbit | Molniya orbit
By Operators: SpaceX | EUTELSAT | SES | European Space Agency (ESA) | Planet Labs | Iridium | Spire Global | OneWeb | Swarm Technologies | NASA - Dataset of Satellites Launched (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) | Canadian Space Agency (CSA) - Dataset of Satellites Launched
By Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9 | Ariane 5 | Ariane 5 ECA | Delta 2 | Dnepr | Electron | Falcon Heavy | Long March 2C | Long March 2D | Long March 3B | Pegasus | Proton | Proton M | PSLV | Rokot | Soyuz | Soyuz-2.1b | Vega
By Launch Vehicle: Cape Canaveral | Baikonur Cosmodrome | Guiana Space Center | International Space Station | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center | Plesetsk Cosmodrome | Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 | Satish Dhawan Space Centre | Taiyuan Launch Center | Vandenberg AFB | Xichang Satellite Launch Center | Boeing Satellite Systems | Airbus Defense and Space | EADS Astrium | Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems | Space Systems/Loral | Surrey Satellite Technology | Technical University Berlin | Thales Alenia Space