- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- OPS 9845 (DMSP 5D-2 F6)
- NORAD 13736
- 1982-118A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Antarctica
Orbit ends over the Weddell Sea
In view from you
Nobody watches DMSP F-6 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 DMSP F-6, 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 it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is DMSP F-6?
At 6:20:43 PM UTC DMSP F-6 was over the Atlantic Ocean (41.6° S, 12.1° W), 802 km up, moving at 7.45 km/s and in sunlight.
What is DMSP F-6?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 21, 1982.
Can I see DMSP F-6?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for DMSP F-6, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Space Division
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- RCA Astro Electronics (Astro Space)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 760 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
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
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 41.6° S, 12.1° W
- Altitude
- 802 km
- Speed
- 7.45 km/s (26,831 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 98.6°
- Orbital period
- 100.7 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.31
- This orbit
- 782 to 792 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,110 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:33 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:33 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for DMSP F-6, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to DMSP F-6 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DMSP F-6 | 782 to 792 km | 101 minutes | 760 kg | 1982 |
| Sentinel-2A | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2015 |
| Sentinel-2B | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2017 |
| Sentinel-2C | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2024 |
| Sentinel-3A | 802 to 804 km | 101 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2016 |
| Sentinel-3B | 802 to 804 km | 101 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2018 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:33 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OPS 9845 (DMSP 5D-2 F6)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1982-118A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:33:37.977984",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.30563964,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00065253,
"INCLINATION": 98.59,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 138.1325,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 261.5752,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 98.4691,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 13736,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 28560,
"BSTAR": 0.000094726529,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000203,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}