DSCS II F-16

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/13636

  • Communications satellite
  • Military
  • DSCS 2-15
  • NORAD 13636
  • 1982-106A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where DSCS II F-16 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Mozambique Channel

Orbit ends over Zambia

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches DSCS II F-16 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-16, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Ethiopia LIVE

Where is DSCS II F-16?

At 6:17:43 PM UTC DSCS II F-16 was over Ethiopia (6.8° N, 38.3° E), 37,315 km up, moving at 3.02 km/s and in sunlight.

What is DSCS II F-16?

A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Oct 30, 1982.

Can I see DSCS II F-16?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for DSCS II F-16, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
US Air Force Space Division
State
United States of America
Built by
TRW Inc.
What it is
Communications satellite
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
589 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
6:17 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:17 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
6.8° N, 38.3° E
Altitude
37,315 km
Speed
3.02 km/s (10,872 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 8:51 PM UTC
Inclination
11.9°
Orbital period
1,514.4 minutes
Orbits per day
0.95
This orbit
37,285 to 37,327 km
In shadow
56 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 7,980 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 4:21 AM, 13 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 4:21 AM, 13 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for DSCS II F-16, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to DSCS II F-16 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

DSCS II F-16 shares its launch, 1982-106, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
DSCS 3-1Communications satellite
TITAN 34D IUS R/B(2)Rocket body

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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
DSCS II F-1637,285 to 37,327 km1,514 minutes589 kg1982
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011
Hotbird 13F35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.5 t2022

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 4:21 AM, 13 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "DSCS 2-15",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1982-106A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T04:21:03.862944",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.95089693,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00048471,
  "INCLINATION": 11.9048,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 326.2474,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 274.267,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 281.7777,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 13636,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 10549,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -9.3e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}