Galileo vs BeiDou

Galileo (European Union (GSA)) and BeiDou (CNSA) compared on operator, size, orbit, and live satellite count from our catalog.

Headline

BeiDou is the larger of the two with 56 active satellites in our catalog right now, vs Galileo's 50.

Spec	Galileo	BeiDou
Operator	European Union (GSA)	CNSA
Country	EU	CN
First launch	2011	2000
Planned size	30	35
Active in catalog now	50	56
Primary orbit class	MEO (33), GEO (17)	MEO (33), IGSO (12)

Galileo

European satellite navigation. ~28 active sats in MEO at ~23,222 km.

Full Galileo page →

BeiDou

Chinese navigation constellation. Mix of MEO, GEO, and IGSO.

Full BeiDou page →

Catalog methodology

Counts come from our live satellite catalog, refreshed every 3 hours from CelesTrak. We match by name prefix — for example, “STARLINK” for Starlink and “GSAT” for Galileo. Decayed satellites are excluded. Planned size is the operator's announced fleet target, which is often well above currently launched.