USA 31

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/19458

  • Military
  • NORAD 19458
  • 1988-077A
  • Highly elliptical orbit

Current orbit

Where USA 31 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Botswana

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches USA 31 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 USA 31, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Bhutan LIVE

Where is USA 31?

At 7:03:41 PM UTC USA 31 was over Bhutan (27.6° N, 91.7° E), 28,443 km up, moving at 2.81 km/s and in sunlight.

What is USA 31?

A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Sep 2, 1988.

Can I see USA 31?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA 31, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
National Reconnaissance Office
State
United States of America
Built by
TRW Inc.
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
about 1 t
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
Orbit class
Highly elliptical orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, 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
7:03 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:03 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
27.6° N, 91.7° E
Altitude
28,443 km
Speed
2.81 km/s (10,109 km/h)
Course
west
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
27.6°
Orbital period
717.6 minutes
Orbits per day
2.01
This orbit
753 to 39,599 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,740 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 6, 2026, 10:38 PM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 6, 2026, 10:38 PM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 31, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to USA 31 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

USA 31 shares its launch, 1988-077, with 9 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE R/BRocket body
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris
TITAN 34D TRANSTAGE DEBDebris

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.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 6, 2026, 10:38 PM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "USA 31",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1988-077A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-06T22:38:30.980832",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 2.00679447,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.73146198,
  "INCLINATION": 27.646,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 331.7273,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 245.0243,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 25.7842,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 19458,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 1819,
  "BSTAR": 0.008683965,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000964,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}