- Military
- MIDAS 5 (STRONGBACK)
- NORAD 271
- 1962-010A
- Medium Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over Australia
In view from you
Nobody watches Midas 5 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 Midas 5, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Midas 5?
At 6:51:52 PM UTC Midas 5 was over the Pacific Ocean (37.6° N, 141.3° E), 2,984 km up, moving at 6.57 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Midas 5?
A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Apr 9, 1962.
Can I see Midas 5?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Midas 5, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Space Systems Division
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 840 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Medium 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
- 6:51 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:51 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 37.6° N, 141.3° E
- Altitude
- 2,984 km
- Speed
- 6.57 km/s (23,648 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 86.6°
- Orbital period
- 153 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 9.41
- This orbit
- 2,785 to 3,405 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 4,210 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 11:57 PM, 18 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:57 PM, 18 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Midas 5, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Midas 5 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
Midas 5 shares its launch, 1962-010, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| MIDAS 5 DEB | Debris |
| MIDAS 5 DEB | Debris |
| MIDAS 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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 11:57 PM, 18 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "MIDAS 5 (STRONGBACK)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1962-010A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:57:47.738016",
"MEAN_MOTION": 9.41307031,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.03271489,
"INCLINATION": 86.6499,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 294.9325,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 212.8611,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 145.1564,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 271,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 21920,
"BSTAR": -0.00089728556,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -1e-8,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}