STTW-5

STTW-5 is an active satellite operated by China, launched on 1991-12-28 from Xichang, China. With over 35 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,020 km and 34,043 km with an inclination of 32.0°. It travels at approximately 14,550 km/h (4.04 km/s), completing one full orbit every 10 hours 33 minutes — that’s roughly 2.28 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6561 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks STTW-5 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

STTW-5 orbits at an average altitude of 18,032 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 STTW-5’s average altitude, there are currently 2 active payloads and 14 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 32.0°, STTW-5 passes over latitudes between 32.0°N and 32.0°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. China operates approximately 1,219 active satellites in total, of which 2 share a similar altitude band with STTW-5.