NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242)

LIVE

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/39166

  • Navigation satellite
  • NORAD 39166
  • 2013-023A
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242) is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Sea of Japan

Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242) 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 NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242), 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 far too high and too faint for the naked eye. What you notice of it is a position fix, and the card above says whether it is above your horizon to give you one.

Timeline

  1. Outage

    It was out of service from Oct 6, 2012, 6:14 PM to Oct 6, 2012, 10:00 PM, which its operator had not forecast. Source

  2. Outage

    It was out of service from Dec 11, 2025, 10:41 AM to Dec 17, 2025, 8:41 PM, which its operator had not forecast. Source

  3. Outage

    Its operator took it out of service from May 8, 2026, 6:00 PM to May 19, 2026, 9:24 PM, as it had forecast. Source

Summary

Over Argentina LIVE

Where is NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242)?

At 8:56:19 PM UTC NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242) was over Argentina (25.4° S, 66.5° W), 20,138 km up, moving at 3.88 km/s and in sunlight.

What is NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242)?

A navigation satellite in medium Earth orbit, one of the 32 navigation satellites of the GPS constellation.

Can I see NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242)?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242), and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.

General

NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242) is one of the 32 navigation satellites of the GPS constellation. See every GPS satellite and how many are above you right now.

Known to its operator as
PRN 27
Space vehicle number
66
Clock in use
Caesium
Generation
GPS Block IIF
Signals
L1 C/A, P(Y) on L1 and L2, L2C, M-code, and L5
Design life
12 years
Built by
Boeing
Typical altitude
20,000 to 20,400 km

Latest orbital data

Position received
8:56 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
8:56 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
25.4° S, 66.5° W
Altitude
20,138 km
Speed
3.88 km/s (13,972 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
54.4°
Orbital period
718 minutes
Orbits per day
2.01
This orbit
19,804 to 20,561 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,370 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Sep 17, 2026, 10:05 AM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Sep 17, 2026, 10:05 AM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242), so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In service

A receiver can count on it now.

Usable now
Yes: its operator has published no outage in force.
Plane and slot
Plane C, slot 2
Last outage
May 8, 2026, 6:00 PM to May 19, 2026, 9:24 PM, forecast Notice

From GPS’s own notices, as its operator published them on Sep 16, 2026, 1:55 AM.

In orbit

Close approaches
Close approaches to NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242) are not available right now. Try again in a few minutes.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Beside the others

ConstellationSatellitesTypical altitudeOrbital periodPlanesOperator
GPS3220,000 to 20,400 km718 minutes6The United States Space Force
Galileo2723,100 to 23,300 km845 minutes—EUSPA, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme
BeiDou3721,450 to 21,600 km773 minutes—The China Satellite Navigation Office
GLONASS2219,050 to 19,200 km676 minutes—Roscosmos, the Russian State Space Corporation

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Sep 17, 2026, 10:05 AM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "NAVSTAR 68 (USA 242)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2013-023A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-09-17T10:05:06.501696",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 2.0056345,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.01424637,
  "INCLINATION": 54.4394,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 265.2092,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 51.1439,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 310.1372,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 39166,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 9773,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 1.8e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}