- Military
- NORAD 20355
- 1989-090B
- 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 USA 48 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 48, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Brazil LIVE
Where is USA 48?
At 7:03:37 PM UTC USA 48 was over Brazil (14.9° S, 56.2° W), 36,842 km up, moving at 2.99 km/s and in sunlight.
What is USA 48?
A satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Nov 23, 1989.
Can I see USA 48?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA 48, 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 2.7 t
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Inclined geosynchronous
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
- 14.9° S, 56.2° W
- Altitude
- 36,842 km
- Speed
- 2.99 km/s (10,778 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight until 3:12 AM UTC
- Inclination
- 16.8°
- Orbital period
- 1,429.5 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1.01
- This orbit
- 34,471 to 36,845 km
- In shadow
- 67 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,970 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 12:24 AM, 18 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:24 AM, 18 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 48, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to USA 48 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
USA 48 shares its launch, 1989-090, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| IUS R/B(1) | Rocket body |
| 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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 12:24 AM, 18 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "USA 48",
"OBJECT_ID": "1989-090B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:24:05.859936",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.00736547,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.02824093,
"INCLINATION": 16.7766,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 339.3878,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 120.5564,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 254.5873,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 20355,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 921,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000383,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}