Orbital Focus - International Spaceflight Facts and Figures
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Orbits


Tyneside, UK
2024 Mar 29
Friday, Day 89

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Primary source of unclassified orbital elements

Orbital elements based on amateur observations
Sun-synchronous Satellites - Meteorology by LTDN

This a list of satellites in sun-synchronous orbit shown in the order they lie around the Earth. Names are not necessarily those by which they are known in the NORAD catalogue used by SpaceTrack.

It is a snapshot and is updated daily. The measure that results in an entry in this table is that the drift rate of LTDN (Local Time at the Descending Node) is no more than twenty four minutes each year. Some satellites may have higher drift rates but they may still be acceptable to their owners/operators. They do not appear here. On the converse, although a satellite is in a sun-synchronous orbit, it is not necessarily active.

Cubesats less than 6U in size are excluded from the list because the vast majority reached space by hitch hiking and their final orbit was not important. Listing them would create an unnecessarily long page.

The menu on the left leads to some, hopefully useful, sub-lists of the satellites on this page.

Updated: 2024 Mar 28, 03:50 UTC

LTDN Satellite Cat
no
Desig- nation Orbit
Epoch
Orbit
00:02Nimbus 4 (Nimbus D)43621970-025A2024 Mar 271086 x 1097 km, 107.1 min, 100°.0
01:25NOAA 20 (JPSS, Joint Polar Satellite System 1)430132017-073A2024 Mar 27815 x 827 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7
02:06ESSA 836151968-114A2024 Mar 271413 x 1464 km, 114.6 min, 101°.6
02:06Fengyun 3A (Fengyun 3-01)329582008-026A2024 Mar 27823 x 834 km, 101.5 min, 98°.6
02:11NOAA 17274532002-032A2024 Mar 27798 x 815 km, 101.0 min, 98°.8
02:35AMS 4 (DMSP 5D-1 F-4)113891979-050A2024 Mar 27788 x 805 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5
03:00Meteor M-1358652009-049A2024 Mar 27814 x 819 km, 101.2 min, 98°.6
03:42NOAA 5 (ITOS H)90571976-077A2024 Mar 271508 x 1524 km, 116.3 min, 102°.2
03:54USA 210 (DMSP 5D-3 F-18)359512009-057A2024 Mar 27837 x 854 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8
04:27Fengyun 1B (Fengyun 1-02)207881990-081A2024 Mar 27871 x 896 km, 102.6 min, 98°.9
04:35NOAA 10169691986-073A2024 Mar 27788 x 805 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6
05:00NOAA 12212631991-032A2024 Mar 27795 x 813 km, 101.0 min, 98°.6
05:37Fengyun 3E (Fengyun 3-05)490082021-062A2024 Mar 27826 x 827 km, 101.4 min, 98°.7
05:40USA 249 (DMSP 5D-3 F-19)396302014-015A2024 Mar 27837 x 852 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8
06:09USA 109 (DMSP 5D-2 F-13)235331995-015A2024 Mar 27833 x 842 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8
06:17USA 191 (DMSP 5D-3 F-17)295222006-050A2024 Mar 27837 x 851 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7
06:53NOAA 6114161979-057A2024 Mar 27769 x 785 km, 100.4 min, 98°.6
07:23NOAA 15253381998-030A2024 Mar 27796 x 811 km, 100.9 min, 98°.6
07:33USA 73 (DMSP 5D-2 F-11)217981991-082A2024 Mar 27825 x 846 km, 101.6 min, 98°.8
08:29USA 131 (DMSP 5D-2 F-14)247531997-012A2024 Mar 27833 x 844 km, 101.7 min, 98°.9
09:10USA 106 (DMSP 5D-2 S-12)232331994-057A2024 Mar 27831 x 848 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8
09:24MetOp-B387712012-049A2024 Mar 27820 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.6
09:29MetOp-C436892018-087A2024 Mar 27819 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7
10:38NOAA 18286542005-018A2024 Mar 27839 x 858 km, 101.9 min, 98°.9
13:12TIROS 1014301965-051A2024 Mar 27716 x 796 km, 99.9 min, 98°.4
14:12DMSP 5A F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)35101968-092A2024 Mar 27778 x 821 km, 100.9 min, 98°.5
17:11DMSP 5B F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)62751972-089A2024 Mar 27771 x 821 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5
17:55DMSP 5D-2 F-6 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)137361982-118A2024 Mar 27787 x 798 km, 100.7 min, 98°.6
17:55USA 26 (DMSP 5D-2 F-8)181231987-053A2024 Mar 27819 x 837 km, 101.5 min, 98°.7
18:34AMS 3 (DMSP 5D-1 F-3)108201978-042A2024 Mar 27764 x 776 km, 100.2 min, 98°.5
19:14DMSP 5C F-1 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)74111974-063A2024 Mar 27767 x 825 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6
19:16DMSP 5C F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)78161975-043A2024 Mar 27773 x 849 km, 101.1 min, 98°.7
20:09DMSP 5B F-4 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)67871973-054A2024 Mar 27765 x 801 km, 100.5 min, 98°.7
20:27DMSP 4A F-9 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)29201967-080A2024 Mar 27815 x 870 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7
20:33DMSP 5A F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)40471969-062A2024 Mar 27763 x 827 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5
22:34Nimbus 3 (Nimbus B2)38901969-037A2024 Mar 271070 x 1129 km, 107.3 min, 99°.8
23:12Nimbus 5 (Nimbus E)63051972-097A2024 Mar 271088 x 1100 km, 107.1 min, 99°.9
23:29Nimbus 6 (Nimbus F)79241975-052A2024 Mar 271100 x 1113 km, 107.4 min, 100°.0
23:59ESSA 220911966-016A2024 Mar 271354 x 1415 km, 113.4 min, 101°.3

For the satellites that do not have formal published elements, thanks go to the radio and visual amateur satellite trackers for their observing, and particularly to Mike McCants for archiving the derived orbits.

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