Loading…
Loading contentLoading…
Loading contentThe International Space Station, most Earth-observation satellites, and large communications constellations such as Starlink and OneWeb.
The region of space from roughly 160 to 2,000 km altitude, where a satellite circles the Earth in about 90 minutes. Low latency and easy access make it the busiest orbital regime.
The International Space Station, most Earth-observation satellites, and large communications constellations such as Starlink and OneWeb.
12 satellites and constellations modelled in this orbit.
A commercial low-Earth-orbit constellation delivering rapid-revisit, high-cadence Earth imagery.
A low-Earth-orbit satellite-phone and data constellation serving voice, messaging, and IoT connectivity.
The second-generation Iridium constellation of 66 cross-linked low-Earth-orbit satellites providing pole-to-pole voice and data coverage.
A low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation providing global connectivity, focused on enterprise, government, and maritime users.
SpaceX's low-Earth-orbit broadband internet constellation, the largest ever built, delivering global high-speed connectivity.
The first satellite launched by the United States, in 1958, whose radiation detector discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. Built by JPL and launched by the U.S. Army — NASA did not yet exist.
A twin-satellite mission that mapped tiny variations in Earth's gravity field to track the movement of water, ice, and mass around the planet.
The follow-on mission to GRACE, continuing the record of Earth's changing gravity field and the redistribution of water and ice.
A radar-altimetry mission continuing the decades-long record of global sea-surface height for oceanography and climate monitoring.
A crowdfunded CubeSat that demonstrated controlled solar sailing in Earth orbit, raising its orbit using only the pressure of sunlight.
A NASA–CNES mission surveying the height of Earth's surface water — oceans, lakes, and rivers — with unprecedented resolution.
The first successful weather satellite, which returned the first television images of Earth's cloud cover in 1960 and founded operational meteorology from space.
Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.