DECAYED

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33959 (Decayed)

Orbit data source: Space-Track

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33959 was 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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https://www.satcat.com/sats-embedded/33959?theme=dark&initialShowStats=false

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ISO8601 Format

Identifier

33959, 1997-051BU

Orbit

Decayed

Country

Related business

Iridium Communications Inc. (US)

Manufacturer

Unknown

Mission

Decayed 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: 10 months ago

TLE from 10 months ago

0 IRIDIUM 33 DEB
1 33959U 97051BU  25016.32058440  .26957429 -14030-5  19184-1 0  9993
2 33959  86.3321 197.3219 0015367 339.2781  20.7888 16.15824197832056

Epoch: 2025-01-16T07:41Z

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2025-01-16T07:41:38.492Z)

Latitude

-0.00005°

Longitude

-34.08875°

Altitude

224.721 km

Speed

7.777 km/s

True Right ascension

13h 09m 17s

True Declination

0° 00' 00"

Sunlit

Object was in daylight 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

15:43:19

Azimuth

Unknown

Elevation

Unknown

Doppler factor

Unknown

Orbital elements

Apogee altitude

237.779 km

Perigee altitude

217.477 km

Semi-major axis

6,605.765 km

Eccentricity

0.00154

Inclination

86.3321°

RAAN

197.3219°

Arg. of periapsis

339.2781°

True anomaly

20.85141°

Mean anomaly

20.7888°

Eccentric anomaly

20.82009°

Mean motion

4.04258 °/min

Orbital period

89.05 mins

BSTAR

0.019184

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

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34531 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34771 (Decayed)

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35744

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35484

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34145

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35488

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35051

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 34985

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33886

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 38474

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35797

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 35616

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33866

IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33867

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IRIDIUM 33 DEB Visibility

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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.
This satellite is decayed.

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, 33959 (Decayed) on other resources

View IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33959 (Decayed) on Celestrak

View IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33959 (Decayed) 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, 33959 (Decayed)

Orbit data source: Space-Track

Expand to show TLE details & historyLast TLE update: 10 months ago

TLE from 10 months ago

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2025-01-16T07:41:38.492Z)

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

Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs

Check out IRIDIUM 33 DEB, 33959 (Decayed) on other resources

Documentation

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 10 months ago