Curated by:
Lists Available:
Other orbits:
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 |
00:02 | Nimbus 4 (Nimbus D) | 4362 | 1970-025A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1086 x 1097 km, 107.1 min, 100°.0 | 01:25 | NOAA 20 (JPSS, Joint Polar Satellite System 1) | 43013 | 2017-073A | 2024 Mar 27 | 815 x 827 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7 | 02:06 | ESSA 8 | 3615 | 1968-114A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1413 x 1464 km, 114.6 min, 101°.6 | 02:06 | Fengyun 3A (Fengyun 3-01) | 32958 | 2008-026A | 2024 Mar 27 | 823 x 834 km, 101.5 min, 98°.6 | 02:11 | NOAA 17 | 27453 | 2002-032A | 2024 Mar 27 | 798 x 815 km, 101.0 min, 98°.8 | 02:35 | AMS 4 (DMSP 5D-1 F-4) | 11389 | 1979-050A | 2024 Mar 27 | 788 x 805 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 03:00 | Meteor M-1 | 35865 | 2009-049A | 2024 Mar 27 | 814 x 819 km, 101.2 min, 98°.6 | 03:42 | NOAA 5 (ITOS H) | 9057 | 1976-077A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1508 x 1524 km, 116.3 min, 102°.2 | 03:54 | USA 210 (DMSP 5D-3 F-18) | 35951 | 2009-057A | 2024 Mar 27 | 837 x 854 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8 | 04:27 | Fengyun 1B (Fengyun 1-02) | 20788 | 1990-081A | 2024 Mar 27 | 871 x 896 km, 102.6 min, 98°.9 | 04:35 | NOAA 10 | 16969 | 1986-073A | 2024 Mar 27 | 788 x 805 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 05:00 | NOAA 12 | 21263 | 1991-032A | 2024 Mar 27 | 795 x 813 km, 101.0 min, 98°.6 | 05:37 | Fengyun 3E (Fengyun 3-05) | 49008 | 2021-062A | 2024 Mar 27 | 826 x 827 km, 101.4 min, 98°.7 | 05:40 | USA 249 (DMSP 5D-3 F-19) | 39630 | 2014-015A | 2024 Mar 27 | 837 x 852 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8 | 06:09 | USA 109 (DMSP 5D-2 F-13) | 23533 | 1995-015A | 2024 Mar 27 | 833 x 842 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8 | 06:17 | USA 191 (DMSP 5D-3 F-17) | 29522 | 2006-050A | 2024 Mar 27 | 837 x 851 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7 | 06:53 | NOAA 6 | 11416 | 1979-057A | 2024 Mar 27 | 769 x 785 km, 100.4 min, 98°.6 | 07:23 | NOAA 15 | 25338 | 1998-030A | 2024 Mar 27 | 796 x 811 km, 100.9 min, 98°.6 | 07:33 | USA 73 (DMSP 5D-2 F-11) | 21798 | 1991-082A | 2024 Mar 27 | 825 x 846 km, 101.6 min, 98°.8 | 08:29 | USA 131 (DMSP 5D-2 F-14) | 24753 | 1997-012A | 2024 Mar 27 | 833 x 844 km, 101.7 min, 98°.9 | 09:10 | USA 106 (DMSP 5D-2 S-12) | 23233 | 1994-057A | 2024 Mar 27 | 831 x 848 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8 | 09:24 | MetOp-B | 38771 | 2012-049A | 2024 Mar 27 | 820 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.6 | 09:29 | MetOp-C | 43689 | 2018-087A | 2024 Mar 27 | 819 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7 | 10:38 | NOAA 18 | 28654 | 2005-018A | 2024 Mar 27 | 839 x 858 km, 101.9 min, 98°.9 | 13:12 | TIROS 10 | 1430 | 1965-051A | 2024 Mar 27 | 716 x 796 km, 99.9 min, 98°.4 | 14:12 | DMSP 5A F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 3510 | 1968-092A | 2024 Mar 27 | 778 x 821 km, 100.9 min, 98°.5 | 17:11 | DMSP 5B F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 6275 | 1972-089A | 2024 Mar 27 | 771 x 821 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 17:55 | DMSP 5D-2 F-6 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 13736 | 1982-118A | 2024 Mar 27 | 787 x 798 km, 100.7 min, 98°.6 | 17:55 | USA 26 (DMSP 5D-2 F-8) | 18123 | 1987-053A | 2024 Mar 27 | 819 x 837 km, 101.5 min, 98°.7 | 18:34 | AMS 3 (DMSP 5D-1 F-3) | 10820 | 1978-042A | 2024 Mar 27 | 764 x 776 km, 100.2 min, 98°.5 | 19:14 | DMSP 5C F-1 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 7411 | 1974-063A | 2024 Mar 27 | 767 x 825 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 19:16 | DMSP 5C F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 7816 | 1975-043A | 2024 Mar 27 | 773 x 849 km, 101.1 min, 98°.7 | 20:09 | DMSP 5B F-4 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 6787 | 1973-054A | 2024 Mar 27 | 765 x 801 km, 100.5 min, 98°.7 | 20:27 | DMSP 4A F-9 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 2920 | 1967-080A | 2024 Mar 27 | 815 x 870 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7 | 20:33 | DMSP 5A F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 4047 | 1969-062A | 2024 Mar 27 | 763 x 827 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 22:34 | Nimbus 3 (Nimbus B2) | 3890 | 1969-037A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1070 x 1129 km, 107.3 min, 99°.8 | 23:12 | Nimbus 5 (Nimbus E) | 6305 | 1972-097A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1088 x 1100 km, 107.1 min, 99°.9 | 23:29 | Nimbus 6 (Nimbus F) | 7924 | 1975-052A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1100 x 1113 km, 107.4 min, 100°.0 | 23:59 | ESSA 2 | 2091 | 1966-016A | 2024 Mar 27 | 1354 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.
|
|