Satellite · NORAD 43478 · COSPAR 2018-047C
IRIDIUM 161
- Operator Iridium Communications
- Constellation Iridium NEXT
- Country United States
Altitude now
778.0km
SGP4 propagation
Velocity
7.46km/s
Inclination
86.45°
Period
99.8 min
99.8 min
Perigee
746km
Apogee
749km
orbit freshOrbit updated 9 h ago · element epoch 11 Sept 2026 11:39 UTC (11.2 h old)· Metadata updated 9 h ago
Live position
Ground track & current position
Propagated client-side every 5 s from the latest element set (SGP4). Accuracy degrades with element age.
Loading ground track…
- Latitude
- 86.464° S
- Longitude
- 11.671° W
- Altitude
- 778.0 km
- Velocity
- 7.463 km/s
- past 45 min
- next 90 min
- first fix from server render · element epoch 11 Sept 2026 11:39 UTC
Mission
Mission & classification
- Mission type derived
- Communications
- Object type
- Payload
- SATCAT ops status
- Operational [+]
- Radar cross-section
- —
- Constellation membership derived
- Iridium NEXT via name_pattern
Ownership
Operator & country
- Operator
- Iridium Communications
- SATCAT owner code
- US · United States
- Country
- United States US
Launch
Launch
- Launch date
- 22 May 2018
- COSPAR launch id
- 2018-047
Objects from the same launch · 7
- FALCON 9 DEB43483DebrisDecayed
- GRACE-FO 143476PayloadActive
- GRACE-FO 243477PayloadActive
- IRIDIUM 15243479PayloadActive
- IRIDIUM 14743480PayloadActive
- IRIDIUM 11043481PayloadActive
- IRIDIUM 16243482PayloadActive
Change log
History
| Field | Change | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner Code | ∅ → US | Celestrak Satcat | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC |
| Orbit Class | ∅ → LEO | Celestrak | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC |
Regulatory
UN registration
Transparency
Sources & provenance
CelesTrakcommunity
Orbital data courtesy of CelesTrak (Dr. T.S. Kelso).
last sync 7 h ago
CelesTrak SATCATcommunity
Satellite catalog data courtesy of CelesTrak.
last sync 9 h ago
Field provenance
| Field | Source | Observed | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical Name | CelesTrak SATCAT | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC | 100% |
| Decay Date | CelesTrak SATCAT | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC | 100% |
| Launch Date | CelesTrak SATCAT | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC | 100% |
| Object Type | CelesTrak SATCAT | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC | 100% |
| Orbital Elements | CelesTrak | 11 Sept 2026 20:57 UTC | 100% |
| Owner Code | CelesTrak SATCAT | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC | 100% |
| Status | CelesTrak SATCAT | 11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC | 100% |
Timeline
Events
No events detected for this object yet. Launches, decays and orbit changes are generated by the derived-analytics connector.
Reference
Identifiers
- NORAD catalogue number
- 43478
- COSPAR / international designator
- 2018-047C
- SatelliteIndex id
- sat_01M28X2SWZKGKWBJN3JDYP0RWN
- Canonical slug
- iridium-161-43478
Orbit class, mission type and constellation membership are derived by SatelliteIndex (Communications) — see the methodology. Positions are propagated estimates, not tracking measurements; never use them for conjunction assessment.