IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953

Orbit data source: Space-Track

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 is space debris in LEO originally from a launch on Sun, 14 Sep 1997 UTC launched from the Tyuratam Missile And Space Complex (TTMTR). The debris from Iridium 33, an American commercial communications satellite, has been tracked extensively since its accidental collision with the defunct Russian satellite Cosmos 2251 in 2009. This event, occurring at high speed in low Earth orbit (LEO), generated thousands of pieces of space debris, significantly increasing the risk of further collisions. The Iridium 33 debris cloud has impacted space traffic management and orbital debris mitigation strategies, making it a subject of ongoing study in space situational awareness.

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ISO8601 Format

Identifier

33953, 1997-051BN

Orbit

LEO

Country

Related business

Iridium Communications Inc. (US)

Manufacturer

Unknown

Mission

Spacecraft

Bus & Motor

Unknown

Mass

Unknown

Launch date (UTC)

1997-09-14 (28 years ago)

Launch vehicle

Unknown

Launch site

Tyuratam Missile And Space Complex (TTMTR)

Object type

Payload

Rocket body

Debris

Shape & HBR

Unknown shape, 0.1 m

Radar Cross Section

Small (<0.1 m²)

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 9 hours ago

TLE from 9 hours ago

0 IRIDIUM 33 DEB
1 33953U 97051BN  26062.35303231  .00006486  00000-0  14578-2 0  9992
2 33953  86.3879  18.7559 0015233 178.0092 335.1570 14.56309544894761

Epoch: 2026-03-03T08:28Z

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-03-03T08:28:21.991Z)

Latitude

26.88653°

Longitude

-91.29337°

Altitude

698.758 km

Speed

7.514 km/s

True Right ascension

13h 07m 43s

True Declination

26° 44' 49"

Sunlit

Object was in full shadow at epoch

Visualization orbit readout

Latitude

Unknown

Longitude

Unknown

Altitude

Unknown

Speed

Unknown

Apparent Right ascension

Unknown

Apparent Declination

Unknown

Sunlit

N/A

Visualization observer readout

Local Sidereal Time

20:48:36

Azimuth

Unknown

Elevation

Unknown

Doppler factor

Unknown

Orbital elements

Apogee altitude

712.834 km

Perigee altitude

691.264 km

Semi-major axis

7,080.186 km

Eccentricity

0.00152

Inclination

86.3879°

RAAN

18.7559°

Arg. of periapsis

178.0092°

True anomaly

335.08354°

Mean anomaly

335.157°

Eccentric anomaly

335.12028°

Mean motion

3.64314 °/min

Orbital period

98.82 mins

BSTAR

0.0014578

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Other satellites on launch #51 in the year 1997 (1997-09-14 UTC)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34082 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35626 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34161 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34534 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 38026 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34492

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33850

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 46979

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 37550

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 46965

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 46734

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35631

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35846

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34538

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 36080

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IRIDIUM 33 DEB 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.
8 mins	2026-03-03 21:05:07.822Z	152.836° SSE	2026-03-03 21:09:07.822Z	77.806° E	33.81°	2026-03-03 21:13:07.822Z	18.028° NNE
5 mins	2026-03-03 22:46:07.822Z	251.753° W	2026-03-03 22:48:07.822Z	280.904° WNW	17.65°	2026-03-03 22:51:07.822Z	322.51° NNW
7 mins	2026-03-04 09:06:07.822Z	1.585° NNE	2026-03-04 09:09:07.822Z	132.374° SE	44.454°	2026-03-04 09:13:07.822Z	175.379° S

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Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs

Thresholds — Semi-major Axis: ±100 km, RAAN: ±3°, Inclination: ±5°
TCA is derived from TLE conjunctions

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CAUTION: Conjunctions in this section are generated from low-fidelity TLE screenings

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Check out IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 on other resources

View IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 on Heavens-Above

View IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 on Keep Track

View IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 on Celestrak

View IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 on Gunter's Space Page

Satcat and Kayhan Space are not affiliated with NASA, Celestrak, Heavens-Above, Keep Track, or Gunter's Space Page.

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953

Orbit data source: Space-Track

Expand to show TLE details & historyLast TLE update: 9 hours ago

TLE from 9 hours ago

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-03-03T08:28:21.991Z)

Visualization orbit readout

Visualization observer readout

Orbital elements

Other satellites on launch #51 in the year 1997 (1997-09-14 UTC)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB Visibility forecast

Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs

Check out IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33953 on other resources

Documentation

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 9 hours ago