Reentry trends
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| Number of objects launched per year, coded by disposal fate | Tonnage of objects launched per year, coded by disposal fate |
| Data: Number by launch year | Data: Tonnage by launch year |
| Data: Payloads only, number by launch year | Data: Payloads only, tonnage by launch year |
| Data: Rockets only, number by launch year | Data: Rockets only, tonnage by launch year |
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| Number of objects reentered per year, coded by disposal fate | Tonnage of objects reentered per year, coded by disposal fate |
| Number: Payloads and rockets, by reentry year | Tonnage: Payloads and rockets, by reentry year |
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| Number of payloads reentered per year | Tonnage of payloads reentered per year |
| Number: Payloads only, by reentry year | Tonnage: Payloads only, by reentry year |
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| Number of rockets reentered per year | Tonnage of rockets reentered per year |
| Number: Rockets only, by reentry year | Tonnage: Rockets only, by reentry year |
In each year bin I plot the total tonnage of payloads and rocket stages reaching orbit or marginal orbit that year.
- Red is for objects deorbited at a targeted location at end of mission (in some cases, the end of mission is during launch to an orbit with a perigee within the atmosphere).
- Blue is for objects that have since made an uncontrolled entry in the atmosphere.
- Cyan are orbiting objects that have completed their mission and are abandoned, and will make an uncontrolled reentry in the future.
- Green indicates objects that are currently active in orbit.
- Magenta is for objects which have left the Earth's sphere of influence.
Some of the reentry data underlying the above plots is given in down.dat (reentered objects) and recount1.dat (all payloads and stages). There are some anomalies where two objects are attached (e.g. satellite did not separate from rocket stage) and only one of the objects is therefore named in the list; this will be cleaned up in a later release.
Reentry data by mass range (payloads and rockets) and reentry year
Figures show number of reentries per year of objects in the specified mass range.
ymx1.txt ymx2.txt 
ymx4.txt ymx4.txt