How many satellites are there?

At the moment, I’m reading a fascinating book of cosmology called “You Are Here” and written by Christopher Potter. It’s full of intriguing facts.
For instance, how many satellites do you think there are orbiting the Earth? According to Potter, there are 417 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites (160-2,000 kilometres above the earth), 47 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites (2,000-35,800 kms) and 351 High Earth Orbit (HEO) satellites (at or above 35,786). That makes in 815 all.
In addition, there’s loads of junk out there. It’s estimated that there are around 600,000 pieces of man made debris larger than a centimetre orbiting the Earth below 1,000 km.
Where are the Boy Scouts when you need them to do a cleaning up job?


 




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