USA 81

LIVE
See on the map

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/21949

  • Military
  • NORAD 21949
  • 1992-023A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where USA 81 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Russia

Orbit ends over Sweden

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches USA 81 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 81, 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 the Atlantic Ocean LIVE

Where is USA 81?

At 7:04:05 PM UTC USA 81 was over the Atlantic Ocean (58.2° S, 8.5° E), 807 km up, moving at 7.45 km/s and in sunlight.

What is USA 81?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 25, 1992.

Can I see USA 81?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA 81, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
National Reconnaissance Office
State
United States of America
Built by
Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
about 1.5 t
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, 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
7:04 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:04 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
58.2° S, 8.5° E
Altitude
807 km
Speed
7.45 km/s (26,813 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 7:16 PM UTC
Inclination
85°
Orbital period
100.5 minutes
Orbits per day
14.32
This orbit
779 to 782 km
In shadow
26 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,120 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 2:34 AM, 16 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:34 AM, 16 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 81, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to USA 81 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.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:34 AM, 16 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "USA 81",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1992-023A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:34:30.099648",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.32429204,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00018188,
  "INCLINATION": 85.0089,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 350.944,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 67.9978,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 292.1407,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 21949,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 12963,
  "BSTAR": 0.000055386056,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.0000017,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}