USA 271

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/41745

  • Military
  • NORAD 41745
  • 2016-052B
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where USA 271 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Indian Ocean

Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches USA 271 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 USA 271, 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

  2. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Shi Jian 20, from August 2020, as public sources state. Its sources

  3. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Shi Jian 13, from Nov 23, 2020, as public sources state. Its sources

  4. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 2, from Mar 19, 2021, as public sources state. Its sources

  5. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 3, from May 6, 2021, as public sources state. Its sources

  6. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 5, from Dec 2, 2021, as public sources state. Its sources

  7. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 15, from Apr 8, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources

  8. Rendezvous

    USA 271 came up beside Skynet 5A, Sep 5, 2025 to Sep 13, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is USA 271?

At 6:19:52 PM UTC USA 271 was over the Indian Ocean (1.4° S, 94.2° E), 36,496 km up, moving at 3.05 km/s and in sunlight.

What is USA 271?

A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Aug 19, 2016.

Can I see USA 271?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA 271, and nothing here estimates one.

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
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
6:19 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:19 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
1.4° S, 94.2° E
Altitude
36,496 km
Speed
3.05 km/s (10,976 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
4.5°
Orbital period
1,472.2 minutes
Orbits per day
0.98
This orbit
36,482 to 36,501 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,960 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 2, 2026, 12:58 PM, 6 days old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 2, 2026, 12:58 PM, 6 days old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 271, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to USA 271 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 271 shares its launch, 2016-052, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
USA 270Satellite
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, 12:58 PM, 6 days old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "USA 271",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2016-052B",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-02T12:58:41.719296",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.97813125,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0002216,
  "INCLINATION": 4.5254,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 75.4615,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 215.155,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 95.1125,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 41745,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 2929,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000179,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}