MIDAS 3, 163
Orbit data source: Space-Track
MIDAS 3, 163 is a payload satellite owned by USAF SSD (US) in LEO that was launched on Wed, 12 Jul 1961 UTC via an ATLAS AGENA B launch vehicle from the Air Force Western Test Range (AFWTR). Payload-class satellites include a variety of spacecraft equipped with specific instruments for various scientific and technological missions. These include communications satellites like Starlink; space stations such as the ISS; scientific satellites like the Hubble; Earth observation satellites from companies like Planet Labs, Umbra, and HawkEye 360; GPS; miniature CubeSats for education and research; and military/defense satellites.
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163 intel report (Beta)
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Edit Public Description
Identifier
Orbit
Country
USRelated business
Manufacturer
LMSC
Mission
Defense Early Warn
Bus & Motor
MIDAS, Unknown motor
Mass
~1,540 kg wet, 840 kg dry
Launch date (UTC)
Launch vehicle
Launch site
Object type
Shape & HBR
Cyl, 4.5 m
Radar Cross Section
11.475 m², Large (>1 m²)
Expand to show TLE details & historyLast TLE update: 10 hours ago
TLE from 10 hours ago
0 MIDAS 3
1 00163U 61018A 25260.18505934 .00000005 00000-0 13033-2 0 9993
2 00163 91.1088 193.5088 0100877 94.5493 266.6910 8.91838240 89673Epoch: 2025-09-17T04:26Z
TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2025-09-17T04:26:29.126Z)
Latitude
-0.00009°
Longitude
130.5228°
Altitude
3,453.071 km
Speed
6.366 km/s
True Right ascension
12h 54m 02s
True Declination
0° 00' 00"
Sunlit
Visualization orbit readout
Latitude
Unknown
Longitude
Unknown
Altitude
Unknown
Speed
Unknown
Apparent Right ascension
Unknown
Apparent Declination
Unknown
Sunlit
Visualization observer readout
Local Sidereal Time
06:46:54
Azimuth
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Doppler factor
Unknown
Orbital elements
Apogee altitude
3,540.944 km
Perigee altitude
3,342.821 km
Semi-major axis
9,820.02 km
Eccentricity
0.01009
Inclination
91.1088°
RAAN
193.5088°
Arg. of periapsis
94.5493°
True anomaly
265.53788°
Mean anomaly
266.691°
Eccentric anomaly
266.11435°
Mean motion
2.23036 °/min
Orbital period
161.41 mins
BSTAR
0.0013033
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Other satellites on launch #18 in the year 1961 (1961-07-12 UTC)
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You can import UDL-sourced sensor .json files into the Sandbox to generate a visibility chart that accounts for multi-vendor sensor geometry.MIDAS 3 Visibility forecast
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Span | Click to sort rows by Start time (UTC) header in descending order | Start Az. | Max El. time (UTC) | Max El. Az. | Max El. | End time (UTC) | End Az. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 mins | 2025-09-17 17:59:20.575Z | 126.31° SE | 2025-09-17 18:14:20.575Z | 65.237° ENE | 32.131° | 2025-09-17 18:28:20.575Z | 6.928° NNE |
| 33 mins | 2025-09-17 20:37:20.575Z | 193.086° SSW | 2025-09-17 20:53:20.575Z | 273.616° WNW | 41.734° | 2025-09-17 21:10:20.575Z | 353.326° N |
| 6 mins | 2025-09-17 23:37:20.575Z | 296.395° NW | 2025-09-17 23:39:20.575Z | 303.58° NW | 10.812° | 2025-09-17 23:43:20.575Z | 317.915° NNW |
| 25 mins | 2025-09-18 05:28:20.575Z | 20.995° NNE | 2025-09-18 05:40:20.575Z | 69.565° E | 23.912° | 2025-09-18 05:53:20.575Z | 121.668° SE |
| 33 mins | 2025-09-18 08:07:20.575Z | 1.545° NNE | 2025-09-18 08:23:20.575Z | 282.434° WNW | 44.694° | 2025-09-18 08:40:20.575Z | 194.364° SSW |
| 20 mins | 2025-09-18 10:50:20.575Z | 343.451° N | 2025-09-18 10:59:20.575Z | 308.851° NW | 19.647° | 2025-09-18 11:10:20.575Z | 267.097° W |
Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs
Thresholds — Semi-major Axis: ±100 km, RAAN: ±3°, Inclination: ±5°
TCA is derived from TLE conjunctions
Click to sort rows by RSO header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by Country header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by Type header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by Inclination Δ header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by RAAN Δ header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by Coplanar Angle header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by SMA Δ header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by Orbital period header in ascending order | Click to sort rows by <5km Md TCA header in ascending order |
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CAUTION: Conjunctions in this section are generated from low-fidelity TLE screenings
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