TDRS 13 is catalogued in this registry as a payload, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.
Registry id GCAT_S42915 ·
source layer gcat ·
provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented
Exists from 2017-08-18 12:29:00 UTC (JD 2457984.02014) — no end date is recorded.
Open TDRS 13 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.
| Quantity | Value | Uncertainty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radius | 10.55 m | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Mass | 3454 kg | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — 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.
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.
| Quantity | Value | Uncertainty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-major axis | 4.2157×10^7 m (42157 km) | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Eccentricity | 0.000427 | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Inclination | 0.287364 rad (16.4647°) | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Longitude of ascending node | 3.117236 rad (178.6045°) | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Argument of periapsis | 5.156752 rad (295.4601°) | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Mean anomaly at epoch | 4.740419 rad (271.606°) | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
Elements are expressed in the frame of
EARTH at epoch
2026-07-09 07:19:38 UTC (JD 2461230.80530887). 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).
| Kind | payload |
|---|---|
| Origin | artificial (made by humans) |
| Operating nation | USA |
| Operator class | governmental |
| Purpose | Communications |
| User class | Government |
| Launch site code | CC |
| Launch vehicle | Atlas V 401 |
| Launch outcome | success |
| UN registration | registered with the United Nations — USA · ST/SG/SER.E/859 |
| Separated from | GCAT_S42916 on 2017-08-18 14:22:00 UTC (JD 2457984.0986111113) |
| 3-D model | carries a published mesh |
S42915 #42915 2017-047A · GSFC/US · mfr BOES · bus BSS-601HP · op GEO/I · dry 2000 kg · category COM · class C · program TDRS · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ MEASURED (Celestrak GP) [GCAT]
Reproduced as the source wrote it. Author-year citations link to their DOI where one is registered.
These are absences in the catalogues aggregated here, not measurements of zero, and not statements that the quantity is unknown to science:
| Database | GCAT — artificial space objects |
|---|---|
| Authority | GCAT — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (J. McDowell) |
| Address | https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/tsv |
| Licence | CC-BY 4.0 — https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/ |
| How it entered | RAW snapshot via scripts/ingest-gcat.ts |
| Snapshot | 2026-06-09 |
| Coverage | 54,915 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.