STEX

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/25489

  • Military
  • NORAD 25489
  • 1998-055A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

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

Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches STEX 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 STEX, 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 Russia LIVE

Where is STEX?

At 7:03:45 PM UTC STEX was over Russia (63° N, 84.7° E), 735 km up, moving at 7.49 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is STEX?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Oct 3, 1998.

Can I see STEX?

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

General

Operator
National Reconnaissance Office
State
United States of America
Built by
Lockheed Martin Astronautics
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
671 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, 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
7:03 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:03 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
63° N, 84.7° E
Altitude
735 km
Speed
7.49 km/s (26,968 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 7:32 PM UTC
Inclination
85°
Orbital period
99.2 minutes
Orbits per day
14.52
This orbit
711 to 722 km
In shadow
34 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,000 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 5:17 AM, 13 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:17 AM, 13 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to STEX 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

STEX shares its launch, 1998-055, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
TAURUS R/BRocket body
USA 141Satellite

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, 5:17 AM, 13 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "STEX",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1998-055A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:17:42.844128",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.51951487,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00076126,
  "INCLINATION": 84.9825,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 248.8216,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 320.2081,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 39.8563,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 25489,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 48423,
  "BSTAR": 0.00015545986,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000648,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}