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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: 2023 Jun 4, 05:48 UTC
LTDN |
Satellite |
Cat no |
Desig- nation |
Orbit Epoch |
Orbit |
00:09 | ESSA 2 | 2091 | 1966-016A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1354 x 1414 km, 113.4 min, 101°.3 | 01:26 | NOAA 20 (JPSS, Joint Polar Satellite System 1) | 43013 | 2017-073A | 2023 Jun 3 | 826 x 828 km, 101.4 min, 98°.8 | 01:59 | NOAA 17 | 27453 | 2002-032A | 2023 Jun 3 | 799 x 816 km, 101.0 min, 98°.7 | 02:05 | Fengyun 3D | 43010 | 2017-072A | 2023 Jun 3 | 827 x 829 km, 101.5 min, 98°.9 | 02:14 | ESSA 8 | 3615 | 1968-114A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1414 x 1463 km, 114.6 min, 101°.5 | 02:49 | AMS 4 (DMSP 5D-1 F-4) | 11389 | 1979-050A | 2023 Jun 3 | 788 x 806 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 03:07 | Meteor M2-2 | 44387 | 2019-038A | 2023 Jun 3 | 812 x 814 km, 101.1 min, 98°.8 | 03:11 | Meteor M-1 | 35865 | 2009-049A | 2023 Jun 3 | 816 x 818 km, 101.2 min, 98°.6 | 03:31 | NOAA 5 (ITOS H) | 9057 | 1976-077A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1509 x 1523 km, 116.3 min, 102°.2 | 03:57 | USA 210 (DMSP 5D-3 F-18) | 35951 | 2009-057A | 2023 Jun 3 | 838 x 855 km, 101.9 min, 98°.8 | 04:32 | NOAA 10 | 16969 | 1986-073A | 2023 Jun 3 | 788 x 806 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 04:41 | Fengyun 1B | 20788 | 1990-081A | 2023 Jun 3 | 872 x 895 km, 102.6 min, 98°.8 | 05:10 | NOAA 8 | 13923 | 1983-022A | 2023 Jun 3 | 785 x 805 km, 100.8 min, 98°.7 | 05:12 | NOAA 12 | 21263 | 1991-032A | 2023 Jun 3 | 794 x 815 km, 101.0 min, 98°.5 | 05:37 | Fengyun 3E | 49008 | 2021-062A | 2023 Jun 3 | 825 x 828 km, 101.4 min, 98°.7 | 05:47 | USA 249 (DMSP 5D-3 F-19) | 39630 | 2014-015A | 2023 Jun 3 | 837 x 853 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7 | 06:02 | USA 109 (DMSP 5D-2 F-13) | 23533 | 1995-015A | 2023 Jun 3 | 832 x 844 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8 | 06:24 | USA 191 (DMSP 5D-3 F-17) | 29522 | 2006-050A | 2023 Jun 3 | 838 x 852 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8 | 06:36 | NOAA 6 | 11416 | 1979-057A | 2023 Jun 3 | 772 x 785 km, 100.4 min, 98°.7 | 07:28 | NOAA 15 | 25338 | 1998-030A | 2023 Jun 3 | 797 x 811 km, 101.0 min, 98°.6 | 07:30 | USA 73 (DMSP 5D-2 F-11) | 21798 | 1991-082A | 2023 Jun 3 | 827 x 845 km, 101.6 min, 98°.8 | 08:13 | USA 131 (DMSP 5D-2 F-14) | 24753 | 1997-012A | 2023 Jun 3 | 832 x 845 km, 101.7 min, 98°.9 | 08:45 | TIROS-N | 11060 | 1978-096A | 2023 Jun 3 | 823 x 837 km, 101.5 min, 98°.6 | 09:06 | USA 106 (DMSP 5D-2 S-12) | 23233 | 1994-057A | 2023 Jun 3 | 832 x 847 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8 | 09:28 | NOAA 1 (ITOS A) | 4793 | 1970-106A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1423 x 1472 km, 114.8 min, 101°.5 | 09:29 | MetOp-B | 38771 | 2012-049A | 2023 Jun 3 | 819 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7 | 09:30 | MetOp-C | 43689 | 2018-087A | 2023 Jun 3 | 817 x 823 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7 | 10:29 | NOAA 18 | 28654 | 2005-018A | 2023 Jun 3 | 838 x 860 km, 101.9 min, 98°.9 | 13:13 | TIROS 10 | 1430 | 1965-051A | 2023 Jun 3 | 716 x 797 km, 100.0 min, 98°.4 | 17:30 | DMSP 5B F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 6275 | 1972-089A | 2023 Jun 3 | 772 x 822 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 17:54 | DMSP 5D-2 F-6 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 13736 | 1982-118A | 2023 Jun 3 | 788 x 798 km, 100.7 min, 98°.6 | 17:56 | USA 26 (DMSP 5D-2 F-8) | 18123 | 1987-053A | 2023 Jun 3 | 819 x 839 km, 101.5 min, 98°.7 | 18:34 | AMS 3 (DMSP 5D-1 F-3) | 10820 | 1978-042A | 2023 Jun 3 | 764 x 779 km, 100.3 min, 98°.5 | 19:11 | DMSP 5C F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 7816 | 1975-043A | 2023 Jun 3 | 773 x 850 km, 101.1 min, 98°.7 | 19:14 | DMSP 5C F-1 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 7411 | 1974-063A | 2023 Jun 3 | 767 x 827 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 19:49 | DMSP 5A F-1 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 3266 | 1968-042A | 2023 Jun 3 | 803 x 878 km, 101.7 min, 98°.6 | 20:38 | DMSP 4A F-9 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 2920 | 1967-080A | 2023 Jun 3 | 816 x 870 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7 | 20:39 | DMSP 5A F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 4047 | 1969-062A | 2023 Jun 3 | 764 x 826 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 22:50 | Nimbus 3 (Nimbus B2) | 3890 | 1969-037A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1070 x 1129 km, 107.3 min, 99°.8 | 23:18 | Nimbus 5 (Nimbus E) | 6305 | 1972-097A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1088 x 1100 km, 107.1 min, 99°.9 | 23:23 | Nimbus 6 (Nimbus F) | 7924 | 1975-052A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1100 x 1113 km, 107.4 min, 100°.0 | 23:57 | Nimbus 4 (Nimbus D) | 4362 | 1970-025A | 2023 Jun 3 | 1086 x 1098 km, 107.1 min, 100°.0 |
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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