CINEMA

CINEMA is an active satellite operated by University of California-Berkeley/Imperial College-London (United States), launched on 2012-09-13 from Vandenberg SFB, California. After 14 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 393 km and 451 km with an inclination of 64.6°. It travels at approximately 27,577 km/h (7.66 km/s), completing one full orbit every 93 minutes — that’s roughly 15.48 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~1–3 years. Orbital Radar tracks CINEMA in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

CINEMA orbits at an average altitude of 422 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of CINEMA’s average altitude, there are currently 3,328 active payloads and 132 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012, STARLINK-1017. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 19.1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 64.6°, CINEMA passes over latitudes between 64.6°N and 64.6°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. United States operates approximately 12,360 active satellites in total, of which 3,110 share a similar altitude band with CINEMA.