Praetorian SDA-501

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/100059

  • Communications satellite
  • Military
  • PRAETORIAN SDA_501
  • NORAD 100059
  • 2026-163A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Praetorian SDA-501 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Antarctica

Orbit ends over Antarctica

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Praetorian SDA-501 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.

Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.

No brightness has been published for Praetorian SDA-501, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.

Seeing it

There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. What reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Canada LIVE

Where is Praetorian SDA-501?

At 5:41:40 PM UTC Praetorian SDA-501 was over Canada (68.9° N, 85.4° W), 965 km up, moving at 7.37 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Praetorian SDA-501?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jul 16, 2026.

Can I see Praetorian SDA-501?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Praetorian SDA-501, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Space Development Agency
State
United States of America
Built by
York Space Systems
What it is
Communications satellite
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
300 kg
Operating
Yes
Orbit class
Low Earth orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
5:41 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:41 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
68.9° N, 85.4° W
Altitude
965 km
Speed
7.37 km/s (26,536 km/h)
Course
north-east
Light
In sunlight until 5:52 PM UTC
Inclination
81.5°
Orbital period
103.9 minutes
Orbits per day
13.85
This orbit
933 to 950 km
In shadow
34 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,360 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 12:01 AM, 17 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:01 AM, 17 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Praetorian SDA-501, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Praetorian SDA-501 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Praetorian SDA-501 shares its launch, 2026-163, with 20 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
PRAETORIAN SDA_502Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_503Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_504Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_505Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_506Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_507Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_508Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_509Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_510Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_511Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_512Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_513Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_514Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_515Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_516Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_517Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_518Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_519Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_520Communications satellite
PRAETORIAN SDA_521Communications satellite

Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.

Beside the others

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Praetorian SDA-501933 to 950 km104 minutes300 kg2026
BlueWalker 3443 to 453 km94 minutesabout 1.5 t2022
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 12:01 AM, 17 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "PRAETORIAN SDA_501",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2026-163A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:01:23.154816",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 13.85494332,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00120285,
  "INCLINATION": 81.4841,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 205.9033,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 263.8153,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 96.1635,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 100059,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 1581,
  "BSTAR": 0.00015401666,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000188,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}