Summary of GEO satellites
=========================
Here I summarize launches of geostationary satellites from 1963 to early 2009.
(Up to the launch of Telstar 11N in 2009).
I compare the number made by the US and other nations; and the number
owned by US organizations and non-US organizations.
I look at all GEO satellites (including weather, signals intelligence etc),
and separately at communications satellites only.
The full lists are at geobus0902.ok.lis
and geobus0902.fail.lis. These lists
include the satellite bus type and the number of years the satellite
remained functional.
Fine print: Satellites are included if they were active payloads which
at some point had an Earth orbital period between 23 and 25 hours.
Satellites which operated successfully in GEO even for a short time are
counted as success for the purposes of this study (the implication is
successful launch, not successful overall mission). Pre-privatization
Intelsat satellites are counted as US. SEA LAUNCH is counted as a US
launch, since Boeing provides launch services (although rocket is
Ukrainian/Russian). Issues of dual ownership or manufacture (eg Anik D)
and other fuzziness in definitions were resolved using my best
judgement.
The manufacturer with the most GEO satellites is the El Segundo factory
which was formerly Hughes and is now Boeing. They have
200 +/- 5 GEO satellites with 13 failed at launch. (the uncertainty is
due to secret satellites whose manufacturers were not reliably leaked.)
=========================================================================
ALL GEO SATELLITES - SUCCESS
US-MADE SATELLITES OTHER SATELLITES (NON US MADE)
US OWNERS 343 9
OTHER OWNERS 154 340
TOTAL 497 349 WORLD TOTAL 846 TO GEO
ALL GEO SATELLITES - FAILED AT LAUNCH
US OWNERS 33 0
OTHER OWNERS 11 32
TOTAL FAILED 44 32 WORLD TOTAL 76 FAILED
TOTAL ATTEMPTS 541 381 GRAND TOTAL 922 ATTEMPTS
=========================================================================
GEO COMMUNICATIONS SATS ONLY
US-MADE SATELLITES OTHER (NON US MADE) SATELLITES
US OWNERS
US-LAUNCH 193 3
OTHER-LAUNCH 82 6
---
TOTAL US OWNED 275 9
OTHER OWNERS
US-LAUNCH 51 26
OTHER-LAUNCH 102 271
---
TOTAL OTHER-OWNED 153 297
-----------
TOTAL 428 306 WORLD TOTAL 734 COMMS
GEO COMMS SATELLITES ONLY - FAILED AT LAUNCH
US OWNERS 25 0
OTHER OWNERS 11 31
TOTAL FAILED 36 31
(COMMS)
TOTAL ATTEMPTS 464 337 WORLD TOTAL 801 COMMS ATTEMPTS
(COMMS)