Orbit Status

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Overview

This page includes the most recent information on CYGNSS orbits.

Current satellite and wind measurement locations - Animation

The first animation shows the positions for each CYGNSS over the current orbit (updated hourly).
The second animation shows the locations of the specular points, where the CYGNSS measure the surface wind speeds (updated hourly).

CYGNSS satellite trajectories of the current orbit.
CYGNSS surface wind measurement locations for the current orbit.

Daily Orbit Status

Figure 1 represents a snapshot of the CYGNSS satellites. It shows the relative positions of the observatories along the orbit.
The table (bottom left) shows orbit parameters of each CYGNSS orbit: perigee, apogee, spacing (as a time, distance, and angular separation) and phase rate difference with respect to FM03.
Figure 2 shows the altitudes the CYGNSS satellites from launch until the current day (left part of the plot, labeled as "Historical TLEs"), and altitude predictions by SpOCK for the next 6 months, assuming the satellites to be nadir pointing (solid lines) or pitched into a high drag configuration (dashed lines) (right part of the plot, labeled as "SpOCK's predictions").
The two figures and the table are updated daily.

Snapshot of current relative positions.
Figure 1: Snapshot of CYGNSS positions.
2024/05/03 00:00:00
Observatory Perigee (km) Apogee (km)
Trailing/Leading

Time (min)
Distance (km)
Trailing/Leading

Separation (°)

Phase rate

difference (°/day)
FM01 479.1 507.6 94.0/1.0 460.4 356/4 4.41
FM02 485.3 495.5 12.2/82.8 5540.6 46/314 0.931
FM03 478.6 501.5 0.0/95.0 0.0 0/360 0
FM04 475.9 507.0 58.6/36.4 16518.2 222/138 0.113
FM05 479.5 498.1 36.9/58.1 16762.8 140/220 3.28
FM06 357.6 371.7 56.6/38.4 17130.8 214/146 145.02
FM07 478.1 502.0 48.1/46.9 21296.9 182/178 0.260
FM08 473.1 505.1 67.5/27.5 12475.3 256/104 0.90
Table 1: Current orbit parameters.
Flow diagram of SpOCK and its functionalities
Figure 2: CYGNSS orbit decay - historical and predictions assuming the satellites are nadir pointing.