About the Data

Satellite Launch Timeline

A physics-driven visualization of every operational satellite launched between 1974 and 2023 — each ball is one satellite, dropping in the order it reached orbit. SpaceX launches are highlighted in blue to make the Starlink era visible at a glance.

Summary

The dashboard plots 7,559 satellites launched over roughly five decades. Each falling ball represents a single satellite; its drop time corresponds to its launch date on the global timeline. The HUD tracks cumulative totals, the share contributed by SpaceX, and the active year as the simulation advances.

The companion Noteworthy Stats page aggregates the same dataset into callouts: peak launch years, top operators, busiest launch sites, and the most-used launch vehicles.

Data sources

  • UCS Satellite Database

    Union of Concerned Scientists — operational satellite records including name, operator, launch date, launch site, and launch vehicle. Snapshot covering launches through 2023.

    ucsusa.org/resources/satellite-database
  • SpaceX classification

    Launches were tagged as SpaceX by matching the launch vehicle field against Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy variants in the source dataset.

Methodology

  • Each ball is one satellite, dropped at the moment of its real launch date.
  • Playback speed compresses ~49 years of launch history into minutes.
  • Aggregate counts are computed in-browser from the same JSON dataset.
  • Dates are parsed in UTC to avoid timezone drift across regions.

Credits

Dashboard created by Amin Torres — amin@amintorres.com.

Built as an exploration of how the satellite-launch landscape changed once reusable rockets entered service.