China in Space Every Chinese satellite, launch and programme — tracked live
The complete live picture of Chinese activity in Earth orbit: 1,322 active satellites, two mega-constellations deploying, a crewed space station and the world's second-busiest launch cadence — all measured continuously from Orbital Radar tracking data, on one page.
Last updated: · Orbital Radar live tracking data
Counts from the Orbital Radar live catalogue · launch figures from our launch database · updated continuously
The only live, programme-coded map of the full Chinese fleet on the web · positions refresh every 10 s
The 2026 Launch Race
recomputed after every launchOrbital launch attempts year-to-date, from the Orbital Radar launch database. The cadence chart below shows the decade-long climb.
China's Orbital Population
2000 → today · endpoint is the live countChina vs the United States
active satellites · live countsThe headline gap is Starlink: excluding it, the United States operates 3,144 active satellites against China's 1,322. In navigation, BeiDou fields the larger constellation — 58 tracked satellites across three orbital regimes against GPS's 32-satellite operational fleet in one. Full rankings: satellites by country · how many satellites are in orbit?
Live Trackers
real-time positions · freeConstellations & Satellites
Launches & Vehicles
Programmes & Missions
The State of Chinese Space Activity
China operates 1,322 active satellites — the world's second-largest national fleet, and the fastest-growing. A large share of that fleet has arrived since the mega-constellation era opened in August 2024, when the first Qianfan batch reached orbit. Today two broadband constellations — commercial Qianfan (248 in orbit) and state-run Guowang (213) — are deploying in parallel, with a combined licence book above 27,000 satellites. How that pace compares to Starlink is measured daily on our deployment-race page.
The launch side tells the same story: 70 orbital launches so far in 2026, nearly all flown on the Long March family from four inland and coastal spaceports. In orbit, the Tiangong station hosts a permanent crew of 3, the BeiDou navigation system operates at full strength across three orbital regimes, and the Gaofen and Jilin-1 Earth-observation fleets image the planet daily.
Every claim on this page is measured, not quoted: counts come from the Orbital Radar live catalogue — browsable satellite-by-satellite in the satellite directory — launch figures from our launch log of every orbital attempt since 1957, and positions from our tracking engine, updated continuously and cited by press and researchers worldwide.
Milestones
latest entry regenerates from live dataFrequently Asked Questions
Orbital Radar is currently tracking 1,322 active Chinese satellites — the world's second-largest national fleet. The count on this page updates continuously from our tracking data as new satellites are catalogued and old ones decay.
China's two broadband mega-constellations: state-run Guowang (~13,000 planned, 213 in orbit) and commercial Qianfan / Thousand Sails (~15,000 licensed, 248 in orbit). Both are tracked live on this site — full story in our Guowang & Qianfan guide.
China has flown 70 orbital launches so far in 2026 and has averaged more than 60 per year since 2022 — second only to the United States. Every launch since 1970 is recorded in our launch database.
3 taikonauts are currently aboard the Tiangong space station, rotating on ~6-month Shenzhou missions. The Tiangong tracker shows the station's live position, current crew and upcoming passes over your location.
BeiDou is China's independent satellite-navigation system — 58 satellites across MEO, IGSO and GEO orbits, versus GPS's 32 operational satellites in a single MEO shell. It reached global coverage in 2020 and is accurate to centimetres regionally with augmentation.
Yes — free, in your browser. The live map above, the dedicated Qianfan, Guowang and Tiangong trackers, our 3D globe and the satellite directory all show live data computed from public orbital elements by Orbital Radar's tracking engine.
📌 Cite this data
Free to cite with attribution — journalists and researchers use these figures daily. See who cites Orbital Radar · live trackers from this page are free to embed.