Second heaviest satellite launched by ORBCOMM Inc. into space at 45 kg

Operated by ORBCOMM Inc. of USA, ORBCOMM FM-4 is a commercial satellite launched for the purpose of communications.

Constructed by Orbital Sciences Corp. (USA), it was launched into space using Taurus as the launch vehicle from Vandenberg AFB on 10 February 1998. ORBCOMM FM-4 orbits around the Earth as a polar LEO satellite.

Designed with an operational lifetime of 5 years, ORBCOMM FM-4 has a launch mass of 45 kg and dry mass of 22 kg. It navigates with the COSPAR ID 1998-007C and NORAD ID 25159.

Using its self-produced usable power of 160 watts, ORBCOMM FM-4 orbits at an inclination of 108 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.

The satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 768km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 838km. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 4.88E-03 and it takes 101 minutes to orbit the Earth.

Compare ORBCOMM FM-4 with Starlink-2486 from USA.

Compare ORBCOMM FM-4 with OPTOS from Spain.

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