- Earth-watching satellite
- TOMS EP
- NORAD 23940
- 1996-037A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Sweden
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Earth Probe TOMS 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 Earth Probe TOMS, 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 Tuesday, Nov 3 at 4:57 AM UTC, a fragment of Meteor 2-5 (NORAD 36923) was to pass within 809 m of TOMS EP (NORAD 23940). The chance was about 1 in 2,000.
Summary
Over Mali LIVE
Where is Earth Probe TOMS?
At 5:38:49 PM UTC Earth Probe TOMS was over Mali (22.8° N, 3.7° W), 681 km up, moving at 7.53 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Earth Probe TOMS?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Jul 2, 1996.
Can I see Earth Probe TOMS?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Earth Probe TOMS, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- TRW Inc. Chantilly
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 295 kg
- Operating
- 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:38 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:38 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 22.8° N, 3.7° W
- Altitude
- 681 km
- Speed
- 7.53 km/s (27,094 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:49 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.5°
- Orbital period
- 98.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.6
- This orbit
- 671 to 709 km
- In shadow
- 10 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,910 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:25 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:25 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Earth Probe TOMS, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to Earth Probe TOMS 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth Probe TOMS | 671 to 709 km | 99 minutes | 295 kg | 1996 |
| Terra | 688 to 691 km | 99 minutes | about 5.2 t | 1999 |
| Sentinel-1A | 693 to 695 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2014 |
| Aqua | 685 to 687 km | 98 minutes | about 2.9 t | 2002 |
| Sentinel-1C | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2024 |
| Sentinel-1D | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2025 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:25 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "TOMS EP",
"OBJECT_ID": "1996-037A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:25:10.986240",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.60067572,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00269252,
"INCLINATION": 98.5199,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 124.853,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 117.9833,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 242.4095,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 23940,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 61304,
"BSTAR": 0.00019472414,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.0000089,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}