ICON

ICON is an active satellite operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (United States), launched on 2019-10-11 from Esrange, Sweden. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 536 km and 555 km with an inclination of 27.0°. It travels at approximately 27,329 km/h (7.59 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 15.07 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Orbital Radar tracks ICON in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

ICON orbits at an average altitude of 546 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 ICON’s average altitude, there are currently 3,512 active payloads and 349 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1276, STARLINK-1451. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 20.1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 27.0°, ICON passes over latitudes between 27.0°N and 27.0°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. United States operates approximately 12,360 active satellites in total, of which 2,821 share a similar altitude band with ICON.