- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- DMSP 5D-2 F9 (USA 29)
- NORAD 18822
- 1988-006A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Philippine Sea
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches DMSP F-9 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-9, 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
- Close approach
On Wednesday, Oct 14 at 3:29 PM UTC, a fragment of Meteor 2-8 (NORAD 36334) was to pass within 631 m of DMSP 5D-2 F9 (USA 29) (NORAD 18822). The chance was about 1 in 5,000.
Summary
Over the Ross Sea LIVE
Where is DMSP F-9?
At 6:21:00 PM UTC DMSP F-9 was over the Ross Sea (72.3° S, 177.7° E), 822 km up, moving at 7.44 km/s and in sunlight.
What is DMSP F-9?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Feb 3, 1988.
Can I see DMSP F-9?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for DMSP F-9, 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
- GE Astro Space, East Windsor
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 773 kg
- Operating
- No: its regular operations have ended
- 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
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 72.3° S, 177.7° E
- Altitude
- 822 km
- Speed
- 7.44 km/s (26,788 km/h)
- Course
- north-west
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:47 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.4°
- Orbital period
- 100.8 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.29
- This orbit
- 788 to 797 km
- In shadow
- 17 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,140 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:15 AM, 13 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:15 AM, 13 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for DMSP F-9, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to DMSP F-9 is reported for the next three 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
DMSP F-9 shares its launch, 1988-006, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| DMSP 5D-2 F9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DMSP F-9 | 788 to 797 km | 101 minutes | 773 kg | 1988 |
| 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, 5:15 AM, 13 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "DMSP 5D-2 F9 (USA 29)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1988-006A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:15:08.071488",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.28888971,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00065021,
"INCLINATION": 98.3716,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 112.9594,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 14.9038,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 345.2335,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 18822,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 1684,
"BSTAR": 0.00011324788,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000244,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}