SPOT 1

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/16613

  • Earth-watching satellite
  • NORAD 16613
  • 1986-019A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where SPOT 1 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over the South China Sea

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches SPOT 1 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 SPOT 1, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

  2. Close approach

    On Sunday, Oct 25 at 5:52 AM UTC, a fragment of Cosmos 1275 (NORAD 42118) was to pass within 309 m of SPOT 1 (NORAD 16613). The chance was about 1 in 8,000.

Summary

Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE

Where is SPOT 1?

At 5:33:37 PM UTC SPOT 1 was over the Atlantic Ocean (15.5° N, 58.4° W), 740 km up, moving at 7.44 km/s and in sunlight.

What is SPOT 1?

A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Feb 22, 1986.

Can I see SPOT 1?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SPOT 1, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.

General

Operator
National Space Research Center
State
French Republic
Built by
MATRA Space
What it is
Earth-watching satellite
Launched
Mass
about 1.9 t
Operating
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
5:33 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:33 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
15.5° N, 58.4° W
Altitude
740 km
Speed
7.44 km/s (26,795 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 5:58 PM UTC
Inclination
98.7°
Orbital period
97.8 minutes
Orbits per day
14.72
This orbit
563 to 742 km
In shadow
32 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,010 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 2:48 AM, 14 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:48 AM, 14 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for SPOT 1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
1 reported. No close approach to SPOT 1 is reported for the next three 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

SPOT 1 shares its launch, 1986-019, with 25 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
VIKINGSatellite
ARIANE 1 R/BRocket body
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
VIKING DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEB *Debris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris
ARIANE 1 DEBDebris

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
SPOT 1563 to 742 km98 minutesabout 1.9 t1986
ALOS-2630 to 632 km97 minutesabout 2.1 t2014
SMAP681 to 683 km98 minutes944 kg2015
SAOCOM 1A622 to 624 km97 minutesabout 3 t2018
Aqua685 to 687 km98 minutesabout 2.9 t2002
Terra688 to 691 km99 minutesabout 5.2 t1999

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:48 AM, 14 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "SPOT 1",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1986-019A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:48:10.926432",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.71768086,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.01279279,
  "INCLINATION": 98.6761,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 254.6321,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 173.358,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 186.9359,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 16613,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 83216,
  "BSTAR": 0.00012448507,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000818,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}