- Communications satellite
- ORBCOMM FM 5
- NORAD 25117
- 1997-084F
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches Orbcomm A1 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 Orbcomm A1, 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 reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is Orbcomm A1?
At 6:21:33 PM UTC Orbcomm A1 was over the Indian Ocean (18.4° S, 94.8° E), 738 km up, moving at 7.49 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is Orbcomm A1?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 23, 1997.
Can I see Orbcomm A1?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Orbcomm A1, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Orbcomm Inc.
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- OSC Germantown
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 42 kg
- Operating
- Yes
- 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
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 18.4° S, 94.8° E
- Altitude
- 738 km
- Speed
- 7.49 km/s (26,953 km/h)
- Course
- north-east
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 6:41 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 45°
- Orbital period
- 99.5 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.48
- This orbit
- 733 to 737 km
- In shadow
- 32 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,010 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 1:55 AM, 16 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 1:55 AM, 16 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Orbcomm A1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Orbcomm A1 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
Orbcomm A1 shares its launch, 1997-084, with 11 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| ORBCOMM FM 8 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 10 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 11 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 12 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 9 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 6 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 7 | Communications satellite |
| ORBCOMM FM 5 DEB | Debris |
| ORBCOMM FM 5 DEB | Debris |
| ORBCOMM FM 5 DEB | Debris |
| ORBCOMM FM 5 DEB | Debris |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orbcomm A1 | 733 to 737 km | 100 minutes | 42 kg | 1997 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 1:55 AM, 16 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "ORBCOMM FM 5",
"OBJECT_ID": "1997-084F",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T01:55:06.533472",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.47647442,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00023085,
"INCLINATION": 45.0146,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 80.8204,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 236.2865,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 123.7767,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 25117,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 51431,
"BSTAR": 0.00043272103,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00001465,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}