SURFSAT

SURFSAT is an active satellite operated by United States, launched on 1995-11-04 from Vandenberg SFB, California. With over 31 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 933 km and 1,492 km with an inclination of 100.5°. It travels at approximately 26,100 km/h (7.25 km/s), completing one full orbit every 110 minutes — that’s roughly 13.13 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks SURFSAT in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

SURFSAT orbits at an average altitude of 1,213 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of SURFSAT’s average altitude, there are currently 732 active payloads and 221 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 100.5°, SURFSAT passes over latitudes between 100.5°N and 100.5°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 12,339 active satellites in total, of which 5 share a similar altitude band with SURFSAT.