MSX

LIVE
See on the map

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/23851

  • Military
  • NORAD 23851
  • 1996-024A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

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

Orbit began over the Indian Ocean

Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches MSX 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 MSX, 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 United States of America LIVE

Where is MSX?

At 6:36:24 PM UTC MSX was over the United States of America (40.7° N, 87° W), 910 km up, moving at 7.4 km/s and in sunlight.

What is MSX?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 24, 1996.

Can I see MSX?

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

General

Operator
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
State
United States of America
Built by
JHU-Applied Physics Lab
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
about 2.8 t
Operating
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
6:36 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:36 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
40.7° N, 87° W
Altitude
910 km
Speed
7.4 km/s (26,636 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 6:55 PM UTC
Inclination
99.1°
Orbital period
103 minutes
Orbits per day
13.98
This orbit
891 to 902 km
In shadow
33 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,280 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 8:06 AM, 10 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 8:06 AM, 10 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to MSX 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

MSX shares its launch, 1996-024, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
MSX 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 8, 2026, 8:06 AM, 10 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "MSX",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1996-024A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T08:06:25.830144",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 13.98405352,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00069614,
  "INCLINATION": 99.0558,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 247.4276,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 194.1397,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 165.9572,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 23851,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 55849,
  "BSTAR": 0.00010450674,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000105,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}