USA 270

LIVE
See on the map

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/41744

  • Military
  • NORAD 41744
  • 2016-052A
  • Geostationary

Current orbit

Where USA 270 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

One orbit takes a day, as long as the Earth takes to turn, so USA 270 keeps above 126.1° E of the equator and never crosses the sky.

Past trackNext orbits

It never rises or sets

USA 270 turns with the Earth, standing over one longitude of the equator. From anywhere it can be seen at all it is up day and night, in the same direction, so there is no pass to wait for.

No brightness has been published for USA 270, 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 wait for: it never crosses the sky. From the half of the Earth it stands over it keeps the same point day and night, and from the other half it never rises at all.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

  2. Rendezvous

    USA 270 came up beside Shi Jian 21, from Jun 9, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources

Summary

Over the Molucca Sea LIVE

Where is USA 270?

At 6:19:56 PM UTC USA 270 was over the Molucca Sea (1.1° N, 126.1° E), 35,789 km up, standing over one longitude of the equator and in sunlight.

What is USA 270?

A satellite in geostationary orbit, in space since Aug 19, 2016.

Can I see USA 270?

No, not with the naked eye, and it never crosses the sky: USA 270 stands over 126.1° E of the equator.

General

Operator
US Air Force Space Command
State
United States of America
Built by
Orbital ATK Space Systems Group (SSG)
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
500 kg
Operating
Yes
Orbit class
Geostationary

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
1.1° N, 126.1° E
Altitude
35,789 km
Speed
3.07 km/s (11,066 km/h)
Course
Stands over 126.1° E
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
4.5°
Orbital period
1,435.6 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,746 to 35,809 km
In view from
Within 7,940 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 2, 2026, 6:44 AM, 6 days old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 2, 2026, 6:44 AM, 6 days old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 270, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to USA 270 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

USA 270 shares its launch, 2016-052, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
USA 271Satellite
DELTA 4 R/BRocket body

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 2, 2026, 6:44 AM, 6 days old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "USA 270",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2016-052A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-02T06:44:40.507296",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 1.0030787,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0007561,
  "INCLINATION": 4.5455,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 75.3694,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 126.0874,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 66.731,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 41744,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 2951,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000355,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}