Example of a natural satellite. The Earth has a natural satellite, the Moon.
A natural satellite is a celestial body orbiting a planet. Earth, Mars and Jupiter have natural satellites. Earth has one, but Mars and Jupiter has more than 1.
Natural satellites are also called moons.
List of natural satellites[]
| Name | Appearance | Satellite of: | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon |  |
Earth | The Moon is the "only" natural satellite of Earth. Most players choose to go to the Moon before Mars and after orbiting the Earth. They usually land landers and rovers on the surface, building lunar bases and constructing a lunar launch pad. |
| Captured Asteroid |  |
Earth | An small, unnamed asteroid that orbits Earth. It is 200 meters in diameter and was added in the 1.5.10 update. Compared to everything else, it has the weakest gravity in Spaceflight Simulator. |
| Phobos |  |
Mars | Phobos is the larger, inner moon of Mars and has low gravity. It has rough terrain. The low gravity makes landings and liftoffs easy. |
| Deimos |  |
Mars | Deimos is the smaller, outer moon of Mars. It has no gravity, and the smallest celestial body in game. |
| Io |  |
Jupiter | Io is the second smallest moon of Jupiter. It is also the closest to the planet. It has a larger gravity than the moon and it has volcanoes poking out of its surface. |
| Europa |  |
Jupiter | Europa is the smallest of the moons of Jupiter. It is smaller than the moon and has a low gravity. It has a smooth and icy surface. |
| Ganymede |  |
Jupiter | Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter. It is larger than Mercury and it has a gravity comparable to that of the moon. It has many surface features including rough terrain and some craters. |
| Callisto |  |
Jupiter | Callisto is the second largest moon of Jupiter. It is also the farthest moon of Jupiter. Callisto has large craters on its surface. |
Natural satellites in game and in real life[]
In-game, there are 7 moons, orbiting the Earth, Mars and Jupiter. Ganymede is the largest and Deimos is the smallest.
In real life, there are over 200 moons, and most of them belong to the gas giant planets. Jupiter has eighty, Saturn has eighty-three moons while 150 of which are moonlets, Uranus has 27, Neptune has 14, Pluto has 5, Mars has 2, Earth has the Moon, and Mercury and Venus have none. Ganymede and Titan are larger than the planet Mercury itself, and some moons are very small that they are the size of a small town, like Pan and Atlas, which orbit within Saturn's rings.
Appearances and their Terrain[]
Some moons are spherical, like the moon and Europa, but some moons have irregular surface (Io, Ganymede, and the tiny moons of Mars).
Most moons have craters on their surfaces. Europa has a flat surface compared to other planets and moons.
How many moons does each planet have?[]
Sun[]
The Sun has 5 planets orbiting it. They are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter.
Mercury[]
Mercury has no moons.
Venus[]
Venus has no moons.
Earth[]
Earth has one moon, the moon.
Mars[]
Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos. They are small.
Jupiter[]
Jupiter has 4 moons, the Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto). They are around the size of the moon and orbit closely to Jupiter.
Real life moons of Jupiter[]
Jupiter has ninety-five moons in real life.