- Earth-watching satellite
- IRS 1D
- NORAD 24971
- 1997-057A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches IRS-1D 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 IRS-1D, 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 the Southern Ocean LIVE
Where is IRS-1D?
At 5:38:52 PM UTC IRS-1D was over the Southern Ocean (61.7° S, 161.5° E), 791 km up, moving at 7.46 km/s and in sunlight.
What is IRS-1D?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 29, 1997.
Can I see IRS-1D?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for IRS-1D, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Indian Space Research Organization
- State
- India, Republic of
- Built by
- ISRO Satellite Center
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.3 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, 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
- 61.7° S, 161.5° E
- Altitude
- 791 km
- Speed
- 7.46 km/s (26,856 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 98.9°
- Orbital period
- 100.3 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.36
- This orbit
- 733 to 808 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,090 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 5:06 PM, 1 day old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 5:06 PM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for IRS-1D, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to IRS-1D 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRS-1D | 733 to 808 km | 100 minutes | about 1.3 t | 1997 |
| Envisat | 761 to 762 km | 100 minutes | about 8.1 t | 2002 |
| Sentinel-2A | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2015 |
| Sentinel-2B | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2017 |
| Sentinel-2C | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2024 |
| NISAR | 749 to 751 km | 100 minutes | about 2.4 t | 2025 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 5:06 PM, 1 day old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "IRS 1D",
"OBJECT_ID": "1997-057A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T17:06:18.272736",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.35557353,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00523233,
"INCLINATION": 98.8525,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 309.8084,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 164.5106,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 195.7694,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 24971,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 52320,
"BSTAR": 0.000070336168,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000159,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}