- Military
- SURCAL 159
- NORAD 2872
- 1967-053F
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Southern Ocean
Orbit ends over the Southern Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Calsphere III 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 Calsphere III, 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 United States of America LIVE
Where is Calsphere III?
At 6:19:39 PM UTC Calsphere III was over the United States of America (34° N, 107.5° W), 904 km up, moving at 7.4 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Calsphere III?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since May 31, 1967.
Can I see Calsphere III?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Calsphere III, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- Naval Research Lab
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Naval Research Lab
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 3 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
- 6:19 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:19 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 34° N, 107.5° W
- Altitude
- 904 km
- Speed
- 7.4 km/s (26,644 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 7:08 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 70°
- Orbital period
- 102.9 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14
- This orbit
- 886 to 900 km
- In shadow
- 35 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,270 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:38 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:38 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Calsphere III, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Calsphere III 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
Calsphere III shares its launch, 1967-053, with 8 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| THOR AGENA D R/B | Rocket body |
| OPS 5712 (P/L 160) | Satellite |
| GGSE 4 | Satellite |
| GGSE 5 | Satellite |
| TIMATION 1 | Navigation satellite |
| OPS 5712 (P/L 152) | Satellite |
| OPS 5712 (P/L 153) | Satellite |
| P/L 153 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 8, 2026, 5:38 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "SURCAL 159",
"OBJECT_ID": "1967-053F",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:38:12.450912",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.99631205,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00097356,
"INCLINATION": 69.9755,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 50.6354,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 283.6334,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 76.3689,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 2872,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 3036,
"BSTAR": 0.000089464506,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 7.7e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}