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IRIDIUM 178, 56729

Orbit data source: Space-Track

IRIDIUM 178, 56729 is a payload satellite owned by Iridium (US) in LEO that was launched on Sat, 20 May 2023 UTC via an FALCON 9 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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https://www.satcat.com/sats-embedded/56729?theme=dark&initialShowStats=false

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ISO8601 Format

Identifier

56729, 2023-068V

Orbit

LEO

Country

Related business

Iridium Communications Inc. (US)

Manufacturer

NGIS SSG Gilbert

Mission

Operational Commercial Communications

Bus & Motor

ELITEBUS, Unknown motor

Mass

860 kg wet, 700 kg dry

Launch date (UTC)

2023-05-20 (3 years ago)

Launch vehicle

FALCON 9

Launch site

Air Force Western Test Range (AFWTR)

Object type

Payload

Rocket body

Debris

Shape & HBR

Trap Box + 2 Pan, 4.8 m

Radar Cross Section

10.154 m², Large (>1 m²)

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 2 days ago

TLE from 2 days ago

0 IRIDIUM 178
1 56729U 23068V   26171.01576917  .00000720  00000-0  91293-4 0  9998
2 56729  86.6536  24.1779 0002609  85.3465 274.8055 14.80237780166782

Epoch: 2026-06-20T00:22Z

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-06-20T00:22:42.456Z)

Latitude

0.00003°

Longitude

110.26455°

Altitude

631.54 km

Speed

7.543 km/s

True Right ascension

01h 36m 42s

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

21:31:12

Azimuth

Unknown

Elevation

Unknown

Doppler factor

Unknown

Orbital elements

Apogee altitude

627.296 km

Perigee altitude

623.641 km

Semi-major axis

7,003.605 km

Eccentricity

0.00026

Inclination

86.6536°

RAAN

24.1779°

Arg. of periapsis

85.3465°

True anomaly

274.77571°

Mean anomaly

274.8055°

Eccentric anomaly

274.7906°

Mean motion

3.70306 °/min

Orbital period

97.22 mins

BSTAR

0.000091293

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Other satellites on launch #68 in the year 2023 (2023-05-20 UTC)

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IRIDIUM 178 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.
7 mins	2026-06-22 14:09:11.569Z	153.754° SSE	2026-06-22 14:12:11.569Z	104.265° ESE	33.001°	2026-06-22 14:16:11.569Z	19.567° NNE
7 mins	2026-06-23 01:58:11.569Z	10.629° NNE	2026-06-23 02:01:11.569Z	97.106° ESE	41.021°	2026-06-23 02:05:11.569Z	166.613° 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 178, 56729 on other resources

View IRIDIUM 178, 56729 on NASA - NSSDCA Website

View IRIDIUM 178, 56729 on Heavens-Above

View IRIDIUM 178, 56729 on Keep Track

View IRIDIUM 178, 56729 on Celestrak

View IRIDIUM 178, 56729 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 178, 56729

Orbit data source: Space-Track

Expand to show TLE details & historyLast TLE update: 2 days ago

TLE from 2 days ago

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-06-20T00:22:42.456Z)

Visualization orbit readout

Visualization observer readout

Orbital elements

Other satellites on launch #68 in the year 2023 (2023-05-20 UTC)

IRIDIUM 178 Visibility forecast

Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs

Check out IRIDIUM 178, 56729 on other resources

Documentation

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 2 days ago