- Communications satellite
- Military
- PRAETORIAN SDA_512
- NORAD 100070
- 2026-163M
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Antarctica
Orbit ends over Antarctica
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Praetorian SDA-512 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-512, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is Praetorian SDA-512?
At 5:40:20 PM UTC Praetorian SDA-512 was over the Indian Ocean (48.9° S, 82° E), 953 km up, moving at 7.38 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Praetorian SDA-512?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jul 16, 2026.
Can I see Praetorian SDA-512?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Praetorian SDA-512, 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
- 5:40 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:40 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 48.9° S, 82° E
- Altitude
- 953 km
- Speed
- 7.38 km/s (26,564 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:48 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 81.5°
- Orbital period
- 103.9 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.86
- This orbit
- 930 to 951 km
- In shadow
- 34 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,340 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 11:14 PM, 18 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:14 PM, 18 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Praetorian SDA-512, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Praetorian SDA-512 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.
Launched with
Praetorian SDA-512 shares its launch, 2026-163, with 20 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| PRAETORIAN SDA_501 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_502 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_503 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_504 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_505 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_506 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_507 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_508 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_509 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_510 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_511 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_513 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_514 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_515 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_516 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_517 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_518 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_519 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_520 | Communications satellite |
| PRAETORIAN SDA_521 | Communications 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
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Praetorian SDA-512 | 930 to 951 km | 104 minutes | 300 kg | 2026 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 11:14 PM, 18 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "PRAETORIAN SDA_512",
"OBJECT_ID": "2026-163M",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:14:27.522240",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.85889921,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00143164,
"INCLINATION": 81.4848,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 205.8745,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 264.4432,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 95.5094,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 100070,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 1581,
"BSTAR": 0.000079715317,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000104,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}