USA 324

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/51280

  • Military
  • NORAD 51280
  • 2022-006A
  • Geostationary

Current orbit

Where USA 324 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 324 keeps above 120.3° E of the equator and never crosses the sky.

Past trackNext orbits

It never rises or sets

USA 324 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 324, 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 324 came up beside Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 16, from Apr 26, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources

  3. Rendezvous

    USA 324 came up beside Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 17, from Apr 29, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources

  4. Rendezvous

    USA 324 came up beside Syracuse 3A, from Nov 11, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources

  5. Rendezvous

    USA 324 came up beside Shi Jian 29A, from Mar 14, 2026, as public sources state. Its sources

Summary

Over the Makassar Strait LIVE

Where is USA 324?

At 5:36:29 PM UTC USA 324 was over the Makassar Strait (0.2° S, 120.3° E), 35,738 km up, standing over one longitude of the equator and in sunlight.

What is USA 324?

A satellite in geostationary orbit, in space since Jan 21, 2022.

Can I see USA 324?

No, not with the naked eye, and it never crosses the sky: USA 324 stands over 120.3° E of the equator.

General

Operator
United States Space Force
State
United States of America
Built by
Northrop Grumman 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
5:36 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:36 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
0.2° S, 120.3° E
Altitude
35,738 km
Speed
3.08 km/s (11,074 km/h)
Course
Stands over 120.3° E
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
1.1°
Orbital period
1,433.4 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,729 to 35,739 km
In view from
Within 7,940 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Oct 22, 2026, 7:14 AM, 17 days old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Oct 22, 2026, 7:14 AM, 17 days old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 324, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to USA 324 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 324 shares its launch, 2022-006, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
USA 325Satellite
ATLAS 5 CENTAUR 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 Oct 22, 2026, 7:14 AM, 17 days old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "USA 324",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2022-006A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-10-22T07:14:29.192928",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 1.00463491,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0001151,
  "INCLINATION": 1.1209,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 81.866,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 219.2724,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 306.7656,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 51280,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 1741,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000348,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}