- Communications satellite
- Military
- OPS 9441 (DSCS 2-11)
- NORAD 11144
- 1978-113A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches DSCS II F-11 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
No brightness has been published for DSCS II F-11, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. What reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is DSCS II F-11?
At 5:39:36 PM UTC DSCS II F-11 was over the Atlantic Ocean (1.8° S, 8.8° W), 37,710 km up, moving at 3 km/s and in sunlight.
What is DSCS II F-11?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Dec 14, 1978.
Can I see DSCS II F-11?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for DSCS II F-11, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- USAF Space and Missile Systems Organization
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- TRW Inc.
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 610 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Inclined geosynchronous
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 1.8° S, 8.8° W
- Altitude
- 37,710 km
- Speed
- 3 km/s (10,814 km/h)
- Course
- north-west
- Light
- In sunlight until 12:24 AM UTC
- Inclination
- 10.5°
- Orbital period
- 1,531.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 0.94
- This orbit
- 37,524 to 37,741 km
- In shadow
- 47 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,990 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 5:54 PM, 23 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 5:54 PM, 23 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for DSCS II F-11, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to DSCS II F-11 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Launched with
DSCS II F-11 shares its launch, 1978-113, with 6 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| OPS 9442 (DSCS 2-12) | Communications satellite |
| TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B | Rocket body |
| OPS 9442 (DSCS 2-12) DEB | Debris |
| OPS 9442 (DSCS 2-12) DEB | Debris |
| OPS 9442 (DSCS 2-12) DEB | Debris |
| OPS 9442 (DSCS 2-12) DEB | Debris |
Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSCS II F-11 | 37,524 to 37,741 km | 1,531 minutes | 610 kg | 1978 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
| Hotbird 13F | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.5 t | 2022 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 5:54 PM, 23 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OPS 9441 (DSCS 2-11)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1978-113A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T17:54:58.147776",
"MEAN_MOTION": 0.94032665,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00246425,
"INCLINATION": 10.5041,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 314.1639,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 213.0331,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 161.6079,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 11144,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 11290,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000136,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}