Value chain · CLM-0755
In plain terms
NASA's July 2026 debris bulletin counts 33,098 tracked objects in orbit as of 4 May 2026, of which 18,189 are satellites and 14,909 are spent rocket stages and debris, but it gives no figures at all for geostationary orbit specifically.
The claim as recorded
NASA's Orbital Debris Quarterly News for July 2026 gives the satellite box score as at 4 May 2026 as catalogued by the US Space Surveillance Network: 18,189 spacecraft, active and defunct, plus 14,909 spent rocket bodies and other catalogued debris, for a total of 33,098 catalogued objects, of which the United States accounts for 17,540, the Commonwealth of Independent States 6,586, China 5,633 and all other listed entities 3,339; the issue contains no GEO-specific population breakdown and its content is LEO-focused, so it cannot be used to state how many catalogued objects lie in or near the geostationary region.
Scope and limits
Catalogued objects only, and the catalogue floor differs by orbit: SRC-227 puts the GEO tracking floor at slightly under 1 m against 30 cm in LEO, so a single global total conceals a large regime-dependent undercount at GEO. The count moves every month, so its ENGINEERING-MEASURED five-year review interval materially understates its volatility and the review date should be treated as a formality rather than a currency guarantee. The table is a count, not a density, a flux or a collision probability, and gives no altitude distribution whatever. The national attribution is by registering entity and is not a statement about who operates or controls an object now.
What it assumes
That the "all other listed entities 3,339" figure is the sum of the UK, France, Japan, India, ESA and OTHER rows. That is arithmetic performed here over the table's own cells (726 + 649 + 306 + 193 + 131 + 1334 = 3,339) and is labelled as such rather than presented as a figure the source states.
Where it comes from
printed p.14, table header verbatim: "SATELLITE BOX SCORE (as of 4 May 2026, cataloged by the U.S. SPACE SURVEILLANCE NETWORK)" with columns "Spacecraft*", "Spent R/B & Other Cataloged Debris" and "Total", and footnote "* active and defunct". Totals row, verbatim by cell: 18189, 14909, 33098. Country rows, verbatim by cell: USA 12881 / 4659 / 17540; CIS 1615 / 4971 / 6586; CHINA 1165 / 4468 / 5633; OTHER 1230 / 104 / 1334; UK 725 / 1 / 726; FRANCE 129 / 520 / 649; JAPAN 217 / 89 / 306; INDIA 114 / 79 / 193; ESA 113 / 18 / 131. Absence: a whole-document check of SRC-229 returns no geostationary or GEO population table.
Basis: catalogued object counts, as at 4 May 2026, US Space Surveillance Network
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-011 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0755
CLM-0755, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-05-04.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.