OV1-2

OV1-2 is an active satellite operated by USAF OAR (United States), launched on 1965-10-05 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the OV1-2S launch. After more than 61 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 396 km and 2,110 km with an inclination of 144.2°. It travels at approximately 26,030 km/h (7.23 km/s), completing one full orbit every 111 minutes — that’s roughly 13.02 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1124 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks OV1-2 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

OV1-2 orbits at an average altitude of 1,253 km in Medium Earth Orbit, the region between LEO and GEO (2,000–35,786 km). MEO’s higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer spacecraft are needed for global coverage — but signal latency is higher and radiation from the Van Allen belts is a significant design constraint. Within ±50 km of OV1-2’s average altitude, there are currently 290 active payloads and 398 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0013, ONEWEB-0017, ONEWEB-0020. With an inclination of 144.2°, OV1-2 passes over latitudes between 144.2°N and 144.2°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. United States operates approximately 13,279 active satellites in total, of which 6 share a similar altitude band with OV1-2.