- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- OPS 7323 (DMSP 5B F3)
- NORAD 6275
- 1972-089A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Weddell Sea
Orbit ends over the Weddell Sea
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches DMSP 6530 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 DMSP 6530, 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 it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Sea of Okhotsk LIVE
Where is DMSP 6530?
At 5:39:20 PM UTC DMSP 6530 was over the Sea of Okhotsk (54.2° N, 151.9° E), 823 km up, moving at 7.44 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is DMSP 6530?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Nov 9, 1972.
Can I see DMSP 6530?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for DMSP 6530, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- USAF Space and Missile Systems Organization
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- RCA Astro Electronics (Astro Space)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 192 kg
- Operating
- 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, 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
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 54.2° N, 151.9° E
- Altitude
- 823 km
- Speed
- 7.44 km/s (26,766 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 5:46 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.5°
- Orbital period
- 100.7 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.3
- This orbit
- 765 to 813 km
- In shadow
- 14 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,150 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 3:57 AM, 13 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:57 AM, 13 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for DMSP 6530, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to DMSP 6530 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
DMSP 6530 shares its launch, 1972-089, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| THOR BURNER 2 R/B | Rocket 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DMSP 6530 | 765 to 813 km | 101 minutes | 192 kg | 1972 |
| Sentinel-2A | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2015 |
| Sentinel-2B | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2017 |
| Sentinel-2C | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2024 |
| Sentinel-3A | 802 to 804 km | 101 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2016 |
| Sentinel-3B | 802 to 804 km | 101 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2018 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 3:57 AM, 13 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OPS 7323 (DMSP 5B F3)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1972-089A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:57:51.992640",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.30029143,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00336685,
"INCLINATION": 98.5452,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 116.1271,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 256.767,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 102.9756,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 6275,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 80525,
"BSTAR": 0.00015505715,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000359,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}