Satellite Charts


“Satellites Charts” examines current and past artificial satellites orbiting around Earth, pointing out how our terrestrial life became so dependent on what we sent out in space. With topics ranging from space exploration to space pollution, communication, and warfare, the data visualization functions as an index to unlock related stories. More than eight thousand satellites are plotted on the chart: the data show how many satellites are still operational or decayed, who launched them, and in which years. ​​​​​​​

www.satellitecharts.xyz ↗

beeswarm chart showing data about the artificial satellites launched in space from 1957 to 2022 beeswarm chart showing data about the artificial satellites launched in space from 1957 to 2022

Chart at its full size

Displaying such information on a flat design allows the viewer to zoom in and out in time. In about 70 years of space history, we slowly built an extension of Earth's infrastructure above our head, an extra level of data collection and exchange. Satellites are essential technologies that must be constantly safeguarded, especially from human threats: jobs, services, social gatherings, transport, and communications are strictly dependent on the network of artificial bodies monitoring the planet. It is impossible to imagine our current living standards and global connections without the data transmission between satellites and Earth stations. This is what keeps the world spinning. ​​​​​​

satellite charts web menu
beeswarm chart full view

1. FULL VIEW: You can browse freely across the chart, clicking on the info boxes to know more about each satellite

bubble charts about satellite country of origin

2. TEXT VIEW: You can read about the research in the shape of a simple long-form

beeswarm chart view

3. CHART VIEW: You can browse the satellites by their launch years, with the Earth's orbits axis fixed on the left

The high number of data (combined by merging multiple databases) made it difficult to work with live data as well as coding an interactive visualization. Due to the limited coding skills of the author and the tight deadline, working with a static 2D visualization has been the most optimal solution.

Beeswarm chart powered by RAWGraphs.

beeswarm chart legend
beeswarm chart 2022 elon musk starlink satellites
satellites donut charts 2022
earth orbit, low earth orbit, high earth orbit, geostationary earth orbit
countries who launched satellites in space
companies and organizations that owns satellites in space
space debris, space pollution, dataviz
what happens to satellites when they die, beeswarm, dataviz

The project was further developed a few months after the online exhibition. More charts and topics (focusing on the geography of launch sites and the past and current space junk) were added as updates.

world map of satellite launching stations
gantt chart displaying satellite debris



Online exhibition
Randr Satellite Project

Year
2022

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