Home›Maneuver Tracker›Close Approaches›USA 32 ⟷ IRIDIUM 102
HighProximity
Final forecastFinal forecast, made 16 min before the pass.
Closest approach14 Nov 202613:08 UTC
Drift speed184 m/s662 km/h, seen from IRIDIUM 102
Altitude779 kmlow Earth orbit
Last confirmed14 Nov12:52 UTC · final forecast

US USA 32 and US IRIDIUM 102 were predicted to reach a closest approach of 4.68 km at 2026-11-14 13:08 UTC, drifting past at about 184 m/s (662 km/h) as seen from IRIDIUM 102. Final forecast, made 16 min before the pass. Miss distance and time of closest approach are computed by propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects, and each pass is re-checked every 20 minutes as new element sets are published. See the Satellite Maneuver Tracker for the live picture and space situational awareness for context.

Why it mattersBoth objects are catalogued as payloads. Screening continues as new element sets arrive; operators act on their own conjunction data.

The Two Objects

Dossiers from the satellite directory
USA 32Payload
NORAD 19460
CountryUS
Launched1988-09-05
COSPAR1988-078A
Maneuver capableUnknown
NORAD 41920
CountryUS
Launched2017-01-14
COSPAR2017-003D
Maneuver capableUnknown

Where This Happens

Altitude context
DEBRIS BELT 700–1000 KM2006001,0001,5002,000 kmTHIS PASS · 779 KMISS 420Starlink 550

At 779 km this pass sits inside the most congested band in low Earth orbit, home to the debris left by the 2007 ASAT test and the 2009 collision. Objects here stay up for decades: there is too little atmospheric drag to clean the band naturally. Why crowded bands matter →

History Between This Pair

2 predicted passes under 10 km
Pair history · USA 32 ⟷ IRIDIUM 102
2026-11-14 13:581.57 km Final forecast0.18 km/s781 kmView →
2026-11-14 13:084.68 km Final forecast0.18 km/s779 kmShown above

Repeat encounters are common for objects in near-intersecting orbital planes. Each pass is re-screened as fresh element sets arrive; "Final forecast" means the screening still predicted it within 45 minutes of its time, "Not re-confirmed" means later screening stopped finding it.

Forecast Record

Every figure published for the pass shown above, newest first. Nothing is overwritten: a withdrawn forecast keeps its figure, with the newer check beside it, and the best estimate after the pass is a row of its own.
Computed · figure · predicted time · orbit data · by
14 Nov 11:53 UTC4.68 km Forecast14 Nov 13:08 UTC14 Nov 08:40 UTCRe-check
14 Nov 09:02 UTC4.63 km Forecast14 Nov 13:08 UTC14 Nov 05:17 UTCRe-check
14 Nov 03:02 UTC4.60 km Forecast14 Nov 13:08 UTC14 Nov 01:55 UTCRe-check
13 Nov 19:40 UTC4.73 km Forecast14 Nov 13:08 UTC13 Nov 17:49 UTCRe-check
13 Nov 13:44 UTC4.28 km Forecast14 Nov 13:08 UTC13 Nov 09:13 UTCRe-check
13 Nov 13:25 UTC4.59 km Forecast14 Nov 13:08 UTC13 Nov 05:51 UTCScreen

These Objects Elsewhere

Other screened approaches · 7 days
352 m11-16 07:30 UTC
USA 32COSMOS 1275 DEB
688 m11-09 03:04 UTC
USA 32CZ-6A R/B
1.83 km11-08 20:17 UTC
USA 32CZ-6A DEB

How These Numbers Are Computed

Miss distance and TCA come from propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects and searching for the minimum separation over the screening window. Element sets carry kilometre-scale uncertainty, so figures here describe a close pass, not a collision prediction; a change in either object's published elements re-computes the pass automatically. What is a conjunction? → How conjunction assessment works →