Iridium Next SV138

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/43071

  • Communications satellite
  • IRIDIUM 138
  • NORAD 43071
  • 2017-083B
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Iridium Next SV138 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Greenland

Orbit ends over Greenland

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Iridium Next SV138 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 Iridium Next SV138, 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 for the naked eye. What reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Australia LIVE

Where is Iridium Next SV138?

At 6:41:24 PM UTC Iridium Next SV138 was over Australia (34.2° S, 115.4° E), 792 km up, moving at 7.46 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Iridium Next SV138?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 23, 2017.

Can I see Iridium Next SV138?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Iridium Next SV138, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Iridium Satellite LLC
State
United States of America
Built by
Orbital ATK Civil Sats. and Nat. Security Systems
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
860 kg
Operating
Yes
Orbit class
Low Earth orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
6:41 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:41 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
34.2° S, 115.4° E
Altitude
792 km
Speed
7.46 km/s (26,842 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 7:50 PM UTC
Inclination
86.4°
Orbital period
100.4 minutes
Orbits per day
14.34
This orbit
773 to 776 km
In shadow
32 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,100 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 2:37 AM, 16 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:37 AM, 16 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Iridium Next SV138, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Iridium Next SV138 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

Iridium Next SV138 shares its launch, 2017-083, with 9 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
IRIDIUM 135Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 116Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 130Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 151Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 134Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 137Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 141Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 153Communications satellite
IRIDIUM 131Communications satellite

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.

Beside the others

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Iridium Next SV138773 to 776 km100 minutes860 kg2017
BlueWalker 3443 to 453 km94 minutesabout 1.5 t2022
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:37 AM, 16 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "IRIDIUM 138",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2017-083B",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:37:31.067904",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.34218695,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00020614,
  "INCLINATION": 86.3955,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 261.5353,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 83.9357,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 276.2073,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 43071,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 46476,
  "BSTAR": 0.000074811498,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000229,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}