WIRE

WIRE is catalogued in this registry as a telescope, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.

Registry id GCAT_S25646 · source layer gcat · provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented

Exists from 1999-03-05 02:55:59 UTC (JD 2451242.62222) until 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2455691.5).

Open WIRE in the live scene → The scene composes a position for any date and is where a figure becomes a picture. It downloads the whole catalogue first: measured against the built product, an object outside the core resolves after about 16 s over a local network and about 147 s over a 4 Mbit link, having transferred roughly 70 MB. If you cannot wait that long, this page is the answer.

Measured quantities

QuantityValueUncertaintySource
Radius0.9 mno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mass182 kgno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects

Each row carries its own uncertainty and its own source. Where a row says no uncertainty is published, that is what the catalogue says — it is not a claim that the value is exact.

Orbit

These are the sourced elements. This page does not print a position: a position is a function of time, and a single one dated to the bake would be stale the moment it was read. The registry composes a position for any date, past or future, from these elements — open the scene below and set the clock.

QuantityValueUncertaintySource
Semi-major axis6936500 m (6936.5 km)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Eccentricity0.0038204 no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Inclination1.495394 rad (85.67976°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Longitude of ascending node1.041836 rad (59.69281°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Argument of periapsis0 rad (0°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mean anomaly at epoch5.488593 rad (314.4732°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects

Elements are expressed in the frame of EARTH at epoch 1999-04-04 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2451272.5). Gravitational parameter of the primary: 3.9861389×10^14 m³/s². Semi-major axis in astronomical units uses the IAU 2012 definition (1 au = 1.495978707×10^11 m exactly).

Classification

Kindtelescope
Originartificial (made by humans)
Operating nationUSA
Operator classgovernmental
Launch site codeV
Launch vehiclePegasus XL
Launch outcomesuccess
UN registrationregistered with the United Nations — USA · ST/SG/SER.E/360
Separated fromGCAT_S25647 on 1999-03-05 03:09:00 UTC (JD 2451242.63125)
3-D modelcarries a published mesh

The catalogue's own note

S25646 #25646 1999-011A · GSFC/US · mfr GSFC · bus SMEX · op LLEO/S · tot 187 kg · category AST · class C · program SMEX · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ not in GCAT → placeholder spread (ω = 0; display only) [GCAT]

Reproduced as the source wrote it. Author-year citations link to their DOI where one is registered.

What this registry does not know about it

These are absences in the catalogues aggregated here, not measurements of zero, and not statements that the quantity is unknown to science:

Where this record comes from

DatabaseGCAT — artificial space objects
AuthorityGCAT — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (J. McDowell)
Addresshttps://planet4589.org/space/gcat/tsv
LicenceCC-BY 4.0 — https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/
How it enteredRAW snapshot via scripts/ingest-gcat.ts
Snapshot2026-06-09
Coverage54,915 objects; 1138 multisegment; 349 landed; debris archived, off by default; 1,797 failed-to-orbit objects placed at their launch sites (existence-windowed to their fall); uncatalogued (CSO/analyst) objects included; 36 marked-erroneous (ERR) phantom entries skipped; 20,196 carry a MEASURED Ω/ω/M₀ from a Celestrak GP join, the rest a deterministic placeholder spread; launch log joined by Launch_Tag → site:/lv:/outcome: facets on 54,557 objects (54,508 with minute-precise launch time); 99 deep-space trajectories refined by JPL Horizons navigation arcs (piecewise osculating elements, heliocentric cruise spans only)

This database remains the property of its owners and is reused under its own licence. If you quote a value from this page, name that database alongside SolarSystemRegistry.org.