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The Ten Most Important Satellites Orbiting Earth Now [CHART]

io9.com — Today you probably did something, like check the weather, that would have been impossible without an automated spacecraft orbiting hundreds of miles above your head. But how many of these satellites do you know by name? Here are the ten you need to know, because they make modern life possible.

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  • nourkah, on 05/20/2008, -11/+231I didn't think the Goldeneye was real.
    • nizzy1115, on 05/20/2008, -13/+2Can wipe out a whole city's data records. That's kinda scary.
    • eviljolly, on 05/20/2008, -0/+86It's obviously the most important since they made a whole movie about it...
    • Mootabolife, on 05/20/2008, -6/+20Can boil you an egg from 300km, pretty scary.. And tasty..

      P.S. I think it's a joke by the author. Check the movie launch with the satellite launch date.
    • Yareking, on 05/20/2008, -14/+1sarcasm? The golden gun kill in 1 bullet im even more scare!
    • mecharabbit, on 05/20/2008, -3/+42This means Pierce Brosnan is one of the world's 10 most important people.
    • postalblowfish7, on 05/20/2008, -15/+5don't be such an American slughead...
    • webborocks, on 05/20/2008, -8/+1Classic line!
    • ciaran036, on 05/20/2008, -11/+1***** enough jokes what the hell is it and what does it do? I'm seriously concerned? This is REAL not sci-fi rubbish!
    • afidler, on 05/20/2008, -3/+4I don't really think it is real...
    • ostracize, on 05/20/2008, -3/+33It's not. RTFA
    • Krissam, on 05/20/2008, -4/+1indeed, dugg for James Bond refference
    • nourkah, on 05/20/2008, -3/+12i love that half of the people who replied thought i was being serious. haha
    • jcannonb, on 05/20/2008, -2/+7GoldenEye - With the ability to fire an EM pulse that could have wiped out an entire nation's financial records, GoldenEye is typical of fictional satellites and representative of our fears of orbiting weapons.
    • nickbarber, on 05/20/2008, -4/+1I still don't.
    • Viriatus2, on 05/20/2008, -4/+1duhhhhhh
    • Tunguska, on 05/20/2008, -4/+2I'm Invincible!
  • Thoric, on 05/20/2008, -24/+12Was "The Moon" really necessary?
    • UnglueD, on 05/20/2008, -1/+8Probably just done to appease the fools who would say "What about the moon!?! It's a satellite too ya know!"
    • Mootabolife, on 05/20/2008, -0/+11It was necessary. If there were no moon you wouldn't have the tide.
      • Stradenko, on 05/20/2008, -0/+15Agreed. How else would I get my whites whiter and my colors brighter?
        • chanop, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2Thanks, I just got a ton of funny looks for laughing like a little schoolgirl
    • veijeri, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0That's no moon...
    • Chassit, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Absolutely, have you any idea the difference in our world if it did not exist?
  • Black0ps, on 05/20/2008, -7/+1Mirror: http://spaceageminds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t ...
  • zhepp, on 05/20/2008, -18/+4The Russians have a EMP satallite circling the globe and we don't? this is lame.
    • bot001220, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2We do... their precise locations and orbits are classified.
    • protogenxl, on 05/20/2008, -0/+4Well we have GRAZER 1 a satellite than can start earthquakes from orbit so it balances out.
  • jzuska, on 05/20/2008, -16/+2Really. An EMP weapon!?!?!
  • seeman, on 05/20/2008, -13/+11Screw those, I would say Eurobird 1 is the most important, its where i get all my satellite tv.
  • candyman682, on 05/20/2008, -6/+65ahh, yes, but where is MLB's satellite?
    • ahoyhoy, on 05/20/2008, -0/+36Do you want to know the horrible truth... Or do you want to see me pop a few dingers!
    • sp1900, on 05/20/2008, -0/+29DINGERS!!!
    • edwartica, on 05/20/2008, -2/+1Lets put it right in the path of Golden eye's laser.
  • username484767, on 05/20/2008, -15/+1I wish I could un-digg (WHY CAN'T I?!?!?!) DUMB article!
    • theatreguy36, on 05/20/2008, -0/+4DUMB user
    • djm101, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1You can, check your history in your profile. It is however irreversible.
    • wheresjim, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2You should read before you digg
  • whisperedlie, on 05/20/2008, -20/+29buried for listing GoldenEye. i have a sense of humor and all, but that just didn't get picked up by it.
    • jcannonb, on 05/20/2008, -1/+4GoldenEye - With the ability to fire an EM pulse that could have wiped out an entire nation's financial records, GoldenEye is typical of fictional satellites and representative of our fears of orbiting weapons. It was meant to be a functional reference...
    • edwartica, on 05/20/2008, -2/+3Buried as false...you obliviously DON'T have a sense of humor.
  • Mootabolife, on 05/20/2008, -4/+22Now remember.. these are the most important we know about.
    • edwartica, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Yeah, the satellite that Xenu lives on which keeps the earth from imploding isn't on here.
  • frostbyt, on 05/20/2008, -9/+3No one cares.
  • ikcilabd, on 05/20/2008, -3/+60thats no satellite, its a...
    • Mootabolife, on 05/20/2008, -4/+11..cat with buttered toast strapped to it.
    • ccelo, on 05/20/2008, -4/+2... semi-automatic cilindric oven.
    • GibitStylin, on 05/20/2008, -9/+3should have read, your momma's so fat that ben kenobi said thats no moon, thats your momma.
    • protogenxl, on 05/20/2008, -1/+15Cloud of Swamp gas from a weather balloon that was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
      • nullx42, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Monty python's flying circus
      • nullx42, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1wtf I didnt reply to you. ***** you digg.
      • RevoFM, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2It's called the delete button. Use it wisely, and keep it from the British.
    • TruMetaluna, on 05/20/2008, -1/+9giant pair of... MELONS
    • gak001, on 05/20/2008, -7/+59. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _________
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      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _,,,--~~~~~~~~--,_ . . . . ._________/
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      . . . . . . . . .,-‘ / / : :: :: :: :: : : :::: :::-, ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ; . . . . . . . .
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      . . . :/,, : : : _,-‘ --,,_ : : : ||/ /,-‘-‘x### :: ;;/ . . . . . . . . . .
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      • bbardlbradd, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8Our Admiral is not looking well these days.
    • tocsy, on 05/20/2008, -2/+1...moon?
    • austin006, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0are they nice and firm?
    • gmiley, on 05/20/2008, -0/+7...Johnson! Take a look at this huge...
      • soogy, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1Penis. The male reproductive organ. Otherwise known as tallywhacker, schlong or...
    • Pieterjan, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1swamp gas ? weather balloon?
    • 1b2a, on 05/20/2008, -3/+1...Gundam!!!
  • ColorBlind, on 05/20/2008, -12/+1Ah, excellent. This should make it easy for terrorists and aliens alike to rip apart our satellite infrastructure.
    • chanop, on 05/20/2008, -0/+4The terrorists are sitting in their caves with fischer price telescopes plotting allready....
    • wheresjim, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1With what?! It's kinda hard to get a guy with a suicide vest into low earth orbit (before the blast that is).
  • skifreak107, on 05/20/2008, -3/+31The reference to GoldenEye is fictional and a representation of satellite weapons as a whole using a common name/idea that many people have read about/seen in a movie.

    Scrubs.
    • whisperedlie, on 05/20/2008, -3/+2did you read the title of the article (accent added)?

      "The Ten Most Important Satellites Orbiting Earth ****NOW****"
  • theatreguy36, on 05/20/2008, -5/+16dugg for GoldenEye
  • wbeavis, on 05/20/2008, -9/+1I represent all the people too dumb to use a computer and therefore unable to ask for themselves.

    "What about the Sun?"
    • EarthernJar, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2You need a computer to tell you the sun doesn't orbit the earth? Ever hear of heloicentrism? Copernicus? Galileo? Any of this ringing a bell?
    • oddmanout, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1I represent all of the people who don't understand sarcasm.

      "The Earth revolves around the Sun, the Sun doesn't revolve around the Earth!"
  • smartnerd666, on 05/20/2008, -9/+1What does the Moon do to enable "modern life"? I could easily go through my daily routine without the tides.
    • Llanowar, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3I'm no expert on it, but I believe the stability of the planet would be seriously compromised if it wasn't for the moon.
    • UnWeave, on 05/20/2008, -0/+5Without the moon earth's spin and orientation would be all messed up, which would ruin our regular seasons etc and make it pretty much impossible to live for any great length of time.
      • troymccluresf, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1"which would ruin our regular seasons"
        So the whole world would be like San Francisco?
    • glasgowm, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Your name "smartnerd" is misleading.
    • Chassit, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Please, just shoot yourself. Oh and don't, for the love of Mike, have any children!
  • Gavin, on 05/20/2008, -9/+2Thanks for telling China where all the important satellites are.
    • zosimov21, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3Like they don't already know :(
    • UnWeave, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Yeah. No way they could have found out the same way the author did.
    • kuj007, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1digging up, because my faith in humanity won't allow me to think you're serious :)
  • voodoochild461, on 05/20/2008, -1/+12Something tells me that there may be a few missing from this chart that somebody doesn't want somebody else to know about. ;)
  • ccelo, on 05/20/2008, -3/+0the background looks like a target!
  • jugglingjon, on 05/20/2008, -13/+99Why is the Moon listed as 'International'? I'm pretty sure it has an American flag on it.
    • chanop, on 05/20/2008, -13/+5nope, definately no American flag on it
      /conspiracy
    • UnWeave, on 05/20/2008, -6/+29That better be sarcasm.
    • jacobu9, on 05/20/2008, -15/+13Considering the countless billions we spent and the number of American astronauts we lost, I'd say we deserve it.

      /not sarcasm
      • Plxply, on 05/20/2008, -10/+7The main flaw with you argument is you seem to think America is the only country attempting to get into space.
        • aznhomig, on 05/20/2008, -1/+11It's the only country to get to the moon...yet.
    • MaxMWood, on 05/20/2008, -9/+13Hmm.. maybe because America doesn't own it?
    • falkonv7l, on 05/20/2008, -8/+7Damn right USA!
    • redforty, on 05/20/2008, -4/+6oh snap!
    • sonnybobiche, on 05/20/2008, -2/+14It's international because of an international treaty that was signed by the US and the USSR stating that.
      Same goes for Antarctica.

      P.S.
      Soviet flags were dropped onto the moon by a probe sent there years before Armstrong landed.
      • WileyK, on 05/21/2008, -2/+4Yeah, but we had real people put our flag in the ground there.
      • sonnybobiche, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1There are case law precedents for a robot being enough to claim property, primarily in naval salvage.
        Even if it's only a robot that goes down, as long as you own that robot, the salvage is yours.
    • Pinkshisno, on 05/20/2008, -0/+12"We stole countries with the cunning use of flags. Just sail around the world and stick a flag in. "I claim India for Britain!" And they're going, "You can't claim us, we live here! There's five hundred million of us!" - "Do you have a flag?" - "We don't need a bloody flag, this is our country, you bastard!" - "No flag, no country! You can't have one! That's the rules, that... I've just made up."
    • jks139, on 05/21/2008, -0/+2http://youtube.com/watch?v=hYeFcSq7Mxg
  • cannabrain, on 05/20/2008, -0/+5i said to myself "theres really EMP weapons in space?" then I saw Golden eye, hahaha
  • amightywind, on 05/20/2008, -6/+4No TDRS? There is no ISS, shuttle mission, Chandra, Hubble... without them. What about KH12 and Lacrosse which are the most productive US intelligence gathering satellites?
    • Chassit, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1Next time why don't you try reading the ***** article.
  • Merb, on 05/20/2008, -4/+6This is...dumb?
  • Huangism, on 05/20/2008, -3/+8buried for "top whatever"
  • americamatrix, on 05/20/2008, -13/+168 out of 10, of the most important Satellites are US property...

    GO USA!
    • mattus, on 05/20/2008, -3/+11If you'd read the article, you'd have seen that it admits to being US-centric. So 8 of the 10 satellites most important to the US are US property, unsurprisingly.
    • Ceaser57, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2Yes and of the two that weren't one is fictional and the other is the moon. Also I'm going to agree with the guy above me in that you didn't actually read the article and just looked at the pretty diagram.
      • edwartica, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2actually one is the international space station.
  • WrldsWrstDigger, on 05/20/2008, -2/+5Where's the Sirius satellite? Come on people Ba Ba Bouy Ba Ba Bouy
  • Crosshare, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1I would consider the Directv HD dedicated satellite pretty damn important.
  • Piontek, on 05/20/2008, -1/+6"GOES-12 - From its high-altitude geosynchronous orbit, GOES-12 keeps a constant watch on weather conditions in most of North America."

    Yeah, wheater forecasting in """most of north america""", which makes it one of the TOP 10 most important satellites in the WORLD ?
    theres a big difference between "the world" and the united states of america and canada...
    • troymccluresf, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8Well, to be fair, one of the other most important satellites in the world is make-believe.
    • nourkah, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3you have those in the wrong order.
      you need to refer to the united states before the rest of the world.
      • wiggles, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1What is this 'rest of the world' thing I keep hearing about? Canada?
  • protogenxl, on 05/20/2008, -4/+1What about the NAVSTAR Satellites?
  • anononon, on 05/20/2008, -1/+19So which one of those is the porn transmitted on?
  • ravensfh, on 05/20/2008, -2/+1Thanks to the moon for werewolves! I found that part pretty humorous :P
  • Abomonog, on 05/20/2008, -6/+1Wow! Russia has an operating EMP weapon in space? We ARE falling behind in technology.
  • b00le, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0Pretty lame list - doesn't mention QuickBird, WorldView-1 or Ikonos, the three most important high-res commercial birds – QuickBird (look for the DigitalGlobe copyright) is the source of much of the HR imagery on Google Earth (though the best is aerial). Landsat 7 is broken; although still acquired, the imagery is compromised. Landsat 5 is still going though. Then there are scientific sats like Envisat – but, of course, that's not American...
  • TruMetaluna, on 05/20/2008, -2/+1interesting, the INTERNATIONAL space station does not have the international symbol that the moon has.
    • verkon, on 05/20/2008, -0/+6because international doesn't mean every country has access to it. International can be just between two countries.
      But the name International Space Station still describes its role. The moon on the other hand, is purely international because of it being a natural satellite and if I recall correctly several governments has signed treaties making it international just like international waters.
  • verkon, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Just as long as the Astra 1 cluster doesn't get *****, or I will have no porn...
  • iloveliberals, on 05/20/2008, -1/+5ISS is most important? Come on now. The GPS satellites are incredibly important, providing an invaluable service to the world, free of charge, courtesy of the US taxpayers. You're welcome, oh-so-grateful rest-of-the-world.
  • theurge, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2No EchoStar Satellites?
  • markp93, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1Where's Barbelith?
  • ColonelJessup, on 05/20/2008, -1/+3Which one is Cheney's mind control machine?
    • logotype702, on 05/21/2008, -0/+0it is right there, you just can't see it...
  • unique172, on 05/20/2008, -0/+16Why is there an annoying key with goofy symbols when each symbol is used only once?
  • bigwrestlerguy, on 05/20/2008, -2/+8You need three satellites for a GPS fix. So the one GPS satellite shouldn't count. Without its brothers, it is usesless.
    • jnava121, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2it gave an example of a network of those satellites genius. Look up the word "cog" ... It's not going to list all 24 satellites and 2 spares ... I'm glad you have turned on a gps before and thanks for your expert knowledge...
  • rob3, on 05/20/2008, -4/+2fail, should read "the top ten most important satellites orbiting North America"
  • dnields, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0Where's the Satellite of Love?
  • SpaceDreamer, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3What was the point of using icons instead of writing the satellite type directly??
  • MrBlack08, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8I feel bad for the other satellites. :(
  • Jektal, on 05/20/2008, -0/+4Hey, awesome that I had "Space Porn" open as a tab in FF while my Boss was in here without realizing it... Oh well, he didn't say anything...
  • wigginz, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8Props to the Moon for finally deciding on a flag!
  • satyarth, on 05/20/2008, -0/+4Dugg for Space Porn
  • jnava121, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2what about OH NOES 13 and HAZCHEEZBURG 11 ? isn't that where we get all the information for digg?
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