Another milestone has been reached with the 2,700th satellite detected by CASTOR on August 8th, 2009.

The 2,700th satellite detected was the Japanese H-1 rocket that launched the Himawari 4 weather satellite into orbit.

CASTOR detected the Himawari 4 payload back in 2007. It is CASTOR Satellite Catalog #1676.

Two geosynchronous satellites were detected on August 8th. The first was the German "Equator S" satellite, and the second was the American "EchoStar 1" satellite.

It is becoming apparent that CASTOR is beginning to run out of accessible geosynchronous satellites. To date, CASTOR has detected 602 of the 1,000 geosynchronous satellites currently orbiting the Earth. In order to detect the remaining 400, there would have to be a CASTOR facility on the other side of the world.

In order for CASTOR to make it to the 2,800 mark, it would have to rely on the remaining accessible satellites in LEO and MEO orbits.

Since the IYA began, CASTOR has detected 647 new satellites, nearly 2/3 of the 1,000 goal for this year.