Since Sputnik 1 captured the world’s imagination in 1957, thousands of artificial satellites have followed suit in orbiting Earth. Now a software designer’s ingenious map documents how man-made objects there are in space, and how many actually work.
The visual map produced by Richie Carmichael, who’s based in California, show there are a total of 14,022 satellites orbiting planet Earth. However, 76 percent of those no longer work and are just junk traveling through space.
The satellites don’t just orbit our planet in a regular circle; they have all sorts of strange trajectories, as they pass by, while it gives the viewer a whole new idea about just how crowded space actually is.
Russian satellites make up a hefty number of those artificial objects flying around the earth in space. They can be made out as the red dots in the graphic above.
fake, fake, fake
Totally agree.
Haven’t been up there, so can’t say for sure.