CCE 1 (AMPTE)

CCE 1 (AMPTE) is an active satellite operated by United States, launched on 1984-08-16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. With over 42 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 1,140 km and 49,642 km with an inclination of 3.5°. It travels at approximately 12,753 km/h (3.54 km/s), completing one full orbit every 15 hours 39 minutes — that’s roughly 1.53 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7635 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks CCE 1 (AMPTE) in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

CCE 1 (AMPTE) follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO), which sweeps between a low-altitude perigee and a very high apogee. HEO satellites spend most of their orbital period near apogee, moving slowly at high altitude — effectively loitering over a region of interest. This makes HEO ideal for high-latitude communications (Molniya and Tundra orbits), early-warning missile detection (SBIRS), and space science missions that need to sample different regions of the magnetosphere. The large difference between perigee (1,140 km) and apogee (49,642 km) for this object illustrates the characteristic elliptical shape.