- Earth-watching satellite
- NORAD 100689
- 2026-209A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Arctic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Greenland Sea
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches FLEX 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 FLEX, 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 it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
- Rendezvous
On Wednesday, Oct 28 at 6:04 AM UTC, FLEX moved up beside Sentinel-3A, 58.8 km away at the nearest so far, and a second set of elements confirmed it on Wednesday, Oct 28. The stages and reports
In the news
ESA's FLEX, built to see plants glow, has found its partner: it flies 60 km ahead of Sentinel-3A
· Satellites and constellations ·
Summary
Over Russia LIVE
Where is FLEX?
At 4:41:10 PM UTC FLEX was over Russia (57.2° N, 66.2° E), 812 km up, moving at 7.45 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is FLEX?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 15, 2026.
Can I see FLEX?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for FLEX, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- European Space Agency
- State
- European Space Agency
- Built by
- Thales Alenia Space
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 400 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 4:41 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 4:41 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 57.2° N, 66.2° E
- Altitude
- 812 km
- Speed
- 7.45 km/s (26,831 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 4:45 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.6°
- Orbital period
- 100.9 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.27
- This orbit
- 799 to 801 km
- In shadow
- 33 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,130 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 4:37 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 4:37 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for FLEX, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to FLEX 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
FLEX shares its launch, 2026-209, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SENTINEL-3C | Earth-watching satellite |
| VESPA - DEB | Debris |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLEX | 799 to 801 km | 101 minutes | 400 kg | 2026 |
| Sentinel-3A | 802 to 804 km | 101 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2016 |
| Sentinel-3B | 802 to 804 km | 101 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2018 |
| Sentinel-2A | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2015 |
| Sentinel-2B | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2017 |
| Sentinel-2C | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2024 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 4:37 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "FLEX",
"OBJECT_ID": "2026-209A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T04:37:59.427552",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.26735618,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00011345,
"INCLINATION": 98.6239,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 17.4585,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 88.6634,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 271.4677,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 100689,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 770,
"BSTAR": -0.000021602267,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -9.6e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}