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NOAA 20 (JPSS-1) — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 43013)
Track NOAA 20 (JPSS-1) (NORAD catalog number 43013) live on the WatchSat interactive 3D globe above. Its position is propagated in real time from the latest CelesTrak two-line element set using the SGP4/SDP4 orbital model — the same math professional trackers run. It has been on orbit since 2017, launched on the 73rd orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2017-073A). It went up together with 2 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 45,611 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.44 km/s, NOAA 20 (JPSS-1) flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 833 × 835 km, completing one revolution every 101.4 minutes — about 14.2 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0002). Its 98.8° retrograde, near-polar inclination is characteristic of a Sun-synchronous orbit — the type Earth-imaging and weather satellites use to revisit each spot at the same local solar time. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 189.0°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 0.99° per day, matching the Sun's apparent motion — which is what holds its lighting constant.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~833 km × 835 km |
| Inclination | 98.78° |
| Orbital period | 101.4 min (14.20 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00017 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2017-073A |
| NORAD catalog number | 43013 |
This page's orbital elements come from the CelesTrak catalog of 2026-09-08. The live 3D view above fetches its own current CelesTrak data when the page opens, through an edge cache that refreshes roughly every 30 minutes.
About the Other Active Satellites group
NOAA 20 (JPSS-1)'s name places it among WatchSat's 36 weather and environmental-monitoring satellites — a family that includes the NOAA, GOES, METEOSAT, METOP, FENGYUN, HIMAWARI and DMSP fleets. Browse all other active satellites live in 3D.
Can you see NOAA 20 (JPSS-1) from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, NOAA 20 (JPSS-1) is visible only around dawn and dusk, when your sky is dark but the satellite is still sunlit — and whether you can spot it depends on its size and reflectivity. See pass predictions for your location for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of NOAA 20 (JPSS-1) in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- HEAD-1 (NORAD 43011)
- FENGYUN 3D (NORAD 43010)
- MAKERSAT 0 (NORAD 43016)
- RADFXSAT (FOX-1B) (NORAD 43017)
- MOHAMMED VI-A (NORAD 43005)
- JILIN-1 04 (NORAD 43022)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe