List of first satellites by country
As of 18 August 2025, over eighty countries have operated artificial satellites.
| Denotes international organisations | |
| Denotes countries formerly part of another country which already had a spacecraft in orbit | |
| Denotes countries with disputed sovereignty or recognition and autonomous dependent territories |
| Country | Satellite | Operator | Manufacturer | Carrier rocket[1] | Launch site[1] | Date (UTC)[1] | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sputnik 1[2] | OKB-1 | 4 October 1957 | First satellite launched | ||||
| Explorer 1[3] | ABMA | 1 February 1958 | |||||
| Ariel 1[4] | RAE | 26 April 1962 | |||||
| Alouette 1[5] | DRDC | 29 September 1962 | |||||
| San Marco 1[6] | CNR | 15 December 1964 | |||||
| Astérix[7] | CNES | 26 November 1965 | |||||
| WRESAT[8] | WRE | 29 November 1967 | |||||
10 European countries
|
ESRO 2B[9] | ESRO | 17 May 1968[10] | ||||
| Azur[11] | DLR | 8 November 1969 | |||||
| Ohsumi[12] | ISAS | 11 February 1970 | |||||
| Dongfanghong I[13] | CAST | 24 April 1970 | |||||
| ANS[14] | SRON / NASA | 30 August 1974 | |||||
| Intasat[14] | INTA | 15 November 1974 | |||||
| Aryabhata[14] | ISRO | 19 April 1975 | |||||
| Palapa A1[14] | Perumtel | 8 July 1976 | |||||
| Magion 1[14] | IAP | 24 October 1978 | |||||
| Bulgaria 1300[14] | BSA | 7 August 1981 | |||||
| Arabsat-1A | Arabsat | Ariane 3 | 8 February 1985 | ||||
| Brasilsat A1[14] | Embratel | ||||||
| Morelos 1[14] | SCT | 17 June 1985 | Deployed using PAM-D during STS-51-G | ||||
| Viking | SSC | Ariane 1 | 22 February 1986 | ||||
| Ofek-1 | 19 September 1988 | ||||||
| Astra 1A | SES Astra | Ariane 44LP | 11 December 1988 | ||||
| Lusat | AMSAT Argentina | Ariane 40 | 22 January 1990 | ||||
| AsiaSat 1 | AsiaSat | 7 April 1990 | Hong Kong, a British Overseas Territory, became part of the People's Republic of China in July 1997 | ||||
| Badr-1 | SUPARCO | 16 July 1990 | |||||
| Kosmos 2175 | 21 January 1992 | Successor state to the Soviet Union | |||||
| Kitsat-1 | KAIST | Ariane 42P | 10 August 1992 | ||||
| PoSAT-1 | PoSAT | Ariane 40 | 26 September 1993 | ||||
| Thaicom-1 | Shin Satellite | Ariane 44L | 18 December 1993 | ||||
| Turksat 1B | Türksat | Ariane 44LP | 10 August 1994 | ||||
| Magion 4 | IAP | 2 August 1995 | Formerly part of Czechoslovakia | ||||
| Sich-1 | 31 August 1995 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union | |||||
| FASat-Alfa | Failed to separate | ||||||
| MEASAT-1 | MEASAT | Ariane 44L | 13 January 1996 | ||||
| Thor 2 | Telenor | 20 May 1997 | |||||
| Mabuhay (Agila 1) (former Palapa B2P) |
Mabuhay | 20 March 1987 | Originally operated and launched for Indonesian company PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara. Acquired while on orbit by Mabuhay in 1996 making it the first Philippine owned satellite. | ||||
| Mabuhay 1 (Agila 2) | 19 August 1997 | First Philippine satellite to be launched from space | |||||
| Nilesat 101 | Nilesat | Astrium | Ariane 44P | 28 April 1998 | |||
| ST-1 | SingTel Chunghwa |
Astrium | Ariane 44P | 25 August 1998 | |||
| Formosat-1 | NSPO | 27 January 1999 | |||||
| SUNSAT | Stellenbosch | 23 February 1999 | Launched on same rocket as first Danish satellite | ||||
| Ørsted | DMI[15] | Launched on same rocket as first South African satellite | |||||
| Reflektor | Energia-GPI Space | 17 July 1999 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union | ||||
| Thuraya 1 | Thuraya | 21 October 2000 | |||||
| PROBA-1 | ESA | 22 October 2001 | |||||
| Maroc-Tubsat | 10 December 2001 | ||||||
| Esiafi 1 (formerly Comstar D4) |
TONGASAT | 21 February 1981 | A private American satellite that transferred ownership to Tonga in April 2002 | ||||
| AlSAT-1 | 28 November 2002 | ||||||
| Hellas-Sat 2 | Hellas-Sat | Astrium | 13 May 2003 | ||||
| NigeriaSat-1 | 27 September 2003 | ||||||
| Sina-1 | 27 October 2005 | ||||||
| KazSat-1 | 17 June 2006 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union | |||||
| Libertad-1 | 17 April 2007 | ||||||
| Rascom-QAF 1 | Rascom | Ariane 5GS | 21 December 2007 | ||||
| Vinasat-1 | Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group | Ariane 5ECA | 18 April 2008 | ||||
| Venesat-1 | 29 October 2008 | ||||||
| Eutelsat 48D / Afghansat 1 | Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and Information | EADS Astrium | 20 December 2008 | Satellite leased to the Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and Information in January 2014 | |||
| SwissCube-1 | 23 September 2009 | ||||||
| X-Sat | 20 April 2011 | ||||||
| ViaSat-1 | ViaSat-IOM, ManSat, Telesat-IOM | 19 October 2011 | Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency of the British sovereign | ||||
| MaSat-1[17] | Vega | 13 February 2012 | |||||
| PW-Sat[17] | Warsaw University of Technology, Space Research Centre | Deorbit on 28 October 2014 | |||||
| Goliat[17] | |||||||
| BelKA-2[18][19] | 22 July 2012 | ||||||
| Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2[20] | KCST | 12 December 2012 | Failed to operate in orbit | ||||
| Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a[21] | Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azercosmos) | Ariane 5ECA | 7 February 2013 | Independent since 1991 | |||
| TUGSAT-1/UniBRITE[22] | 25 February 2013 | Austria's first two satellites were launched together | |||||
| Bermudasat 1 (former EchoStar VI) |
Bermudasat | 14 July 2000 | Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory; Bermudasat 1 (former private American EchoStar VI) satellite was transferred in April 2013 to Bermuda being at orbit | ||||
| NEE-01 Pegaso[23] | EXA | 26 April 2013 | |||||
| ESTCube-1 | Vega | 7 May 2013 | Estonia was formerly part of the Soviet Union. | ||||
| O3b-1/O3b-2/O3b-3/O3b-4 | O3b Networks | 25 June 2013 | Jersey's first four satellites were launched together. Jersey is a Crown Dependency of the British sovereign | ||||
| Eutelsat 25B / Es'hail 1 | Eutelsat Es'hailSat |
Ariane 5ECA | 29 August 2013 | Qatar's first satellite flew as a joint project with the French corporation Eutelsat | |||
| Es'hail 1 | Es'hailSat | Ariane 5ECA | 29 August 2013 | Full ownership of the joint France-Qatar satellite Eutelsat 25B / Es'hail 1 was sold to Es'hailsat in 2018[24] | |||
| PUCP-Sat 1 | 21 November 2013 | ||||||
| Pocket-PUCP | |||||||
| Túpac Katari 1 | 20 December 2013 | ||||||
| LitSat-1/Lituanica SAT-1 | 9 January 2014 | The first two Lithuanian satellites were launched together; both carried to the International Space Station and deployed later in the year. Lithuania was formerly part of the Soviet Union. | |||||
| Tigrisat | MOST / La Sapienza | 19 June 2014 | |||||
| ANTELSAT | ANTEL | ||||||
| TurkmenAlem52E/MonacoSAT | TNSA | 27 April 2015 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union. | ||||
| Laosat-1 | Laos National Authority for Science and Technology | 20 November 2015 | |||||
| Aalto-2 | Aalto University | 18 April 2017 | |||||
| BRAC ONNESHA | BRACU | 3 June 2017 | Launched on same rocket as first Ghanaian and Mongolian satellites | ||||
| GhanaSat-1 | All Nations University | Launched on same rocket as first Bangladeshi and Mongolian satellites | |||||
| Mazaalai (satellite) | National University of Mongolia | Launched on same rocket as first Ghanaian and Bangladeshi satellites | |||||
| Venta 1 | Ventspils University College | 23 June 2017 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Launched on same rocket as first Slovakian satellite | ||||
| skCUBE | SOSA | Formerly part of Czechoslovakia, Launched on same rocket as first Latvian satellite | |||||
| AngoSat 1 | AngoSat | 26 December 2017 | Launch was successful but contact was lost quickly afterwards.[25] On 28 December 2017, communication was restored and telemetry was received.[26] | ||||
| Humanity Star | Rocket Lab | 21 January 2018 | First satellite launched by New Zealand launcher. | ||||
| Proyecto Irazú | Costa Rica Institute of Technology | 2 April 2018 | First satellite of Central America. Manufactured in Costa Rica.[27] | ||||
| 1KUNS-PF | University of Nairobi | University of Nairobi |
Launched on same rocket as first Costa Rican satellite. | ||||
| Bhutan 1 | Bhutanese students under Kyutech-led second Joint Global Multination Birds Project (Birds-2) | 29 June 2018 | |||||
| JY1-SAT | Jordanian students under the Crown Prince Foundation | 3 December 2018 | |||||
| NepaliSat-1 | NAST for Nepal Academy of Science and Technology | 17 April 2019 | |||||
| Raavana 1 | Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies | ||||||
| RWASAT-1 | Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority | Rwandan engineers with support from the |
24 September 2019 | Decay from orbit 27 April 2022 | |||
| Sudan Remote Sensing Satellite 1 (SRSS-1) | Sudan | ISRA | 3 November 2019 | ||||
| Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite 1 (ETRSS-1) | Ethiopia | 20 December 2019 | |||||
| Quetzal-1 | Universidad del Valle de Guatemala | 7 March 2020 | |||||
| TRISAT | University of Maribor | University of Maribor | Vega | 3 September 2020 | Launched on same rocket as first Monégasque satellite. | ||
| NEMO-HD | Space-SI | UTIAS / Space-SI | |||||
| OSM-1 Cicero | Orbital Solutions Monaco | Launched on same rocket as first two Slovenian satellites. | |||||
| GuaraniSat-1 | Paraguayan Space Agency and Kyutech-led fourth Joint Global Multination Birds Project | 20 February 2021 | Launched on same rocket as first Myanma satellite. | ||||
| Lawkanat-1[28] | Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University | Launched on same rocket as first Paraguayan satellite. | |||||
| Challenge-1 | Telnet Tunisie | Telnet Tunisie | 22 March 2021 | ||||
| QMR-KWT | Orbital Space Kuwait | Orbital Space Kuwait | 30 June 2021 | ||||
| Light-1 | New York University Abu Dhabi | Engineers from Bahrain's space agency, NSSA, in collaboration with |
21 December 2021 | Bahrain's first satellite flew as a joint project with the UAE Space Agency | |||
| ARMSAT_1 | Satlantis / Geocosmos | Satlantis | 25 May 2022 | Joint satellite between Satlantis and Geocosmos | |||
| TUMnanoSAT | Technical University of Moldova | Technical University of Moldova | 15 July 2022 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union | |||
| PearlAfricaSat-1 | Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation | Kyushu Institute of Technology | 7 November 2022 | Launched on the same rocket as the first Zimbabwean satellite | |||
| ZIMSAT-1 | Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency | Kyushu Institute of Technology | Launched on the same rocket as the first Ugandan satellite | ||||
| Albania-1 | State Authority for Geospatial Information | 3 January 2023 | First Albanian satellites, launched as a pair | ||||
| Albania-2 | |||||||
| Macao Science-1A | Macau University of Science and Technology | 21 May 2023 | First Macanese satellites, launched as a pair | ||||
| Macao Science-1B | |||||||
| SpeiSat | Dicastery for Communication/ASI | 12 June 2023 | Joint satellite between the Italian Space Agency and the Vatican Dicastery for Communication | ||||
| AMAN-1 | ETCO | 11 November 2023 | Launched on the same rocket as the first Djiboutian satellite | ||||
| Djibouti-1A | University of Djibouti | Launched on the same rocket as the first Omani satellite | |||||
| Hayasat-1 | Bazoomq Space Research Laboratory | 1 December 2023 | Formerly part of the Soviet Union. Launched on the same rocket as the first Irish satellite | ||||
| EIRSAT-1 | University College Dublin | Launched on the same rocket as the first Armenian satellite | |||||
| GAINDESAT-1A | SenSat | 16 August 2024 | |||||
| CroCube | Društvo EVO | 21 December 2024 | |||||
| BOTSAT-1 | Botswana International University of Science and Technology | EnduroSat | 15 March 2025 |
Suborbital only
In addition, some countries have only attained a suborbital spaceflight, and have yet to launch a satellite into orbit.
| Country | Payload | Carrier rocket | Launch site | Date (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARZ-3 | 21 November 1962 | |||
| Warhead | 4 November 2017 | |||
| Postcard | 13 October 2020 13:36 | |||
| Postcard | 14 January 2021 16:57 |
See also
References
- ^ a b c McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Zak, Anatoly. "Sputnik's Mission". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ "Explorer 1". Milestones of Flight. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ "Timeline: 1960s". Space Research: 50 Years and Beyond. University of Leicester. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ "Alouette I and II". Canadian Space Agency. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ a b Russo, Arturo (2002). The Century of Space Science. Vol. 1. Springer. p. 52. ISBN 0-7923-7196-8.
- ^ Kramer, Herbert J. (2002). Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors. Springer. p. 160. ISBN 3-5404-2388-5.
- ^ Williamson, Mark (2006). Spacecraft Technology: The Early Years. Institution of Engineering and Technology. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-86341-553-1.
- ^ a b "ESA Achievements" (PDF). European Space Agency. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
- ^ "ELDO/ESRO/ESA: Key Dates 1960-2013". European Space Agency. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
- ^ "When did the first German satellite go into space?". DLR. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ "Ohsumi". Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Long, Wei (25 April 2000). "China Celebrates 30th Anniversary Of First Satellite Launch". Space Daily. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "First Time in History". The Satellite Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ a b Ørsteds Resultater [Results of the Ørsted satellite] (PDF) (Technical report) (in Danish). Copenhagen: Danish Meteorological Institute. 1 March 2002. ISSN 0906-897X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ "Reflektor".
- ^ a b c "Central and Eastern Europe Make History with Small Satellites". European Space Agency. 13 February 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter. "BKA (BelKa 2)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ "Belarus' first satellite enters orbit". Xinhua. 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Fisher, Max (12 December 2012). "Real-time satellite tracker shows precise location of North Korea's new satellite". Washington Post. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Agayev, Zulfugar (8 February 2013). "First Azeri Satellite Launched, Two More Planned in 2015-2016". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ "AUSTRIAN SATELLITES: BRITE-AUSTRIA & UniBRITE". BRITE-Constellation. Universität Wien. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Barbosa, Rui C. (26 April 2013). "China back in action with Long March 2D launch of Gaofen-1". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ "Es'hailSat Makes Deal with Eutelsat to Fully Own Satellite - Via Satellite -". Via Satellite. 10 August 2018.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter. "AngoSat 1". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "Источник: со спутником "Ангосат" восстановлена связь". ТАСС.
- ^ "Costa Rica Launches Its First Satellite Into Space with SpaceX". The Costa Rica Star. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ "Lawkanat 1, 2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ https://www.spacemanic.com/missions/crocube/
- ^ "Cedre 3". astronautix. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "Burkan 2H". astronautix. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "Sealand stamps blasted into space". 13 November 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "NEW SHEPARD MISSION NS-14 CARRIES MORE THAN 50,000 POSTCARDS TO SPACE FROM 13 COUNTRIES". 14 January 2021.
British research station in Antarctica