You "launch" satellites just by building them. You build them in the shipyard, of course. No need to control them, they're passive – just launch them and they'll orbit your planet providing energy, the amount of which depends on how close your planet is to the sun. Now as for that formula, I'm going on memory here, but I think it's something like this: One Satellite's Energy Production = (The planet's max temperature / 4) + 20.