GaianSpace-2026-Writeup

101-this-is-gaianspace

   
Category 01-welcome
Points 10

Description

Console four asks for two whole-number figures from GaianSpace’s public writing: the approximate number of operational LEO satellites in 2024 and the number forecast by the end of the 2030s, in that order.

A whiteboard contains LEO = 12,000+ ??? and GEO is dead anyway, but neither answers the requested pair.

Flag format: GAIANSPACE{[integer],[integer]}

Attachments: None (public-source research).

Hints

Two hints were released during the event:

  1. The house talks — GaianSpace posts what it is watching where anyone can read it. Start with what the house has to say, not the whole internet.
  2. A table, a year — The 2024 figure sits beside other years and other fleets. The forecast is further down, near the end of the story, and it is a round number.

Solution

Steps

1. Locate the source

Follow the problem’s instruction to consult GaianSpace’s public article on the growth of LEO satellite populations:

2. Use the year that was actually requested

The article’s section “The Dramatic Rise of LEO Satellites Over the Past Decade” includes a year-by-year breakdown of approximate active LEO satellite populations. The relevant entries are:

Year Approximate Active LEO Satellites
2024 ~8,100
2025 (mid) ~12,000+ (est.)

The challenge explicitly asks for the 2024 LEO count, making 8,100 the first value. The whiteboard’s 12,000+ corresponds to the later mid-2025 estimate and is a distractor. The article also reports 11,539 operational satellites at the end of 2024, but that is the total across orbits, not the LEO-only figure requested here.

3. Read the forecast, not another historical data point

In “What the Data Reveals: Implications for the Future”, the article states:

By 2040, some forecasts suggest up to 60,000 satellites in LEO [10].

This gives 60,000 as the projected LEO satellite population. The challenge describes the forecast as being for the end of the 2030s; the article itself uses “By 2040”, so that is the source wording used to identify the figure. It is a projection, not an observed historical count.

4. Preserve ordering

The challenge requests whole numbers, so omit approximation signs and thousands separators. Place the 2024 count first, followed by the forecast: 8100,60000.

Exploit Code

No exploit is involved. A minimal formatting check is sufficient:

# Format the two figures as integers in the challenge's requested order.
count_2024 = 8100
forecast_2040 = 60000
print("GAIANSPACE{" + str(count_2024) + "," + str(forecast_2040) + "}")

References

Flag

GAIANSPACE{8100,60000}