BISONSAT

BISONSAT is an active satellite operated by Salish Kootenai College (United States), launched on 2015-10-08 from Vandenberg SFB, California. After 11 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 497 km and 662 km with an inclination of 64.8°. It travels at approximately 27,262 km/h (7.57 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 14.96 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Orbital Radar tracks BISONSAT in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

BISONSAT orbits at an average altitude of 580 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 BISONSAT’s average altitude, there are currently 3,293 active payloads and 536 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0050, STARLINK-3005, STARLINK-3090. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 18.9% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 64.8°, BISONSAT passes over latitudes between 64.8°N and 64.8°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 12,339 active satellites in total, of which 2,739 share a similar altitude band with BISONSAT.