- Military
- NORAD 51287
- 2021-118E
- Medium Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches ASCENT 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 ASCENT, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is ASCENT?
At 6:20:38 PM UTC ASCENT was over the Pacific Ocean (4.5° N, 167.7° W), 35,503 km up, moving at 3.09 km/s and in sunlight.
What is ASCENT?
A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Dec 7, 2021.
Can I see ASCENT?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for ASCENT, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Research Laboratories/RV (Space Vehicles Directorate)
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Raytheon Intelligence and Space/Blue Canyon
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 25 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
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 4.5° N, 167.7° W
- Altitude
- 35,503 km
- Speed
- 3.09 km/s (11,110 km/h)
- Course
- north-east
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 4.5°
- Orbital period
- 1,422.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1.01
- This orbit
- 35,483 to 35,562 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,940 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 1:21 PM, 1 day old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 1:21 PM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for ASCENT, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to ASCENT 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.
Launched with
ASCENT shares its launch, 2021-118, with 4 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| STPSAT-6 | Satellite |
| LDPE-1 | Satellite |
| ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B | Rocket body |
| ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB | Debris |
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 7, 2026, 1:21 PM, 1 day old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "ASCENT",
"OBJECT_ID": "2021-118E",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T13:21:03.988224",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.01226037,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00093813,
"INCLINATION": 4.5305,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 75.3261,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 143.9679,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 216.0174,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 51287,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 1777,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000115,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}