AURORA 1

AURORA 1 is an active satellite operated by ONR / Rice (United States), launched on 1967-06-29 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the Secor Type II S/N 10 launch. After more than 59 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 3,801 km and 3,944 km with an inclination of 90.0°. It travels at approximately 22,457 km/h (6.24 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours 52 minutes — that’s roughly 8.37 orbits per day. Orbital Radar tracks AURORA 1 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

AURORA 1 orbits at an average altitude of 3,873 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 AURORA 1’s average altitude, there are currently 3 active payloads and 4 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 90.0°, AURORA 1 passes over latitudes between 90.0°N and 90.0°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 AURORA 1.