OV1-9

OV1-9 is an active satellite operated by USAF OAR (United States), launched on 1966-12-11 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the OV1-9 launch. After more than 60 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 473 km and 4,502 km with an inclination of 99.1°. It travels at approximately 24,149 km/h (6.71 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours 18 minutes — that’s roughly 10.40 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.2274 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks OV1-9 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

OV1-9 orbits at an average altitude of 2,488 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 OV1-9’s average altitude, there are currently 2 active payloads and 6 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 99.1°, OV1-9 passes over latitudes between 99.1°N and 99.1°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 2 share a similar altitude band with OV1-9.