- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- OPS 6026 (DMSP 4A F1)
- NORAD 2418
- 1966-082A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches OPS 6026 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 OPS 6026, 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
Summary
Over South Korea LIVE
Where is OPS 6026?
At 6:52:05 PM UTC OPS 6026 was over South Korea (34.9° N, 126.4° E), 747 km up, moving at 7.49 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is OPS 6026?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 16, 1966.
Can I see OPS 6026?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for OPS 6026, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Space Systems Division
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- RCA Astro Electronics (Astro Space)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 79 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, 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
- 6:52 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:52 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 34.9° N, 126.4° E
- Altitude
- 747 km
- Speed
- 7.49 km/s (26,950 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 7:05 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.4°
- Orbital period
- 99.7 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.44
- This orbit
- 661 to 824 km
- In shadow
- 25 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,020 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 3:44 AM, 15 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:44 AM, 15 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for OPS 6026, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to OPS 6026 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
OPS 6026 shares its launch, 1966-082, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| THOR BURNER 2 R/B | 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPS 6026 | 661 to 824 km | 100 minutes | 79 kg | 1966 |
| NISAR | 749 to 751 km | 100 minutes | about 2.4 t | 2025 |
| Envisat | 761 to 762 km | 100 minutes | about 8.1 t | 2002 |
| Landsat 9 | 702 to 704 km | 99 minutes | about 2.7 t | 2021 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
| Sentinel-1C | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2024 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 3:44 AM, 15 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OPS 6026 (DMSP 4A F1)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1966-082A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:44:22.512768",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.43965606,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.01142387,
"INCLINATION": 98.3606,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 102.6597,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 308.938,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 50.1671,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 2418,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 13306,
"BSTAR": 0.00009058929,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000286,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}