MACSAT 2

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/20608

  • Communications satellite
  • Military
  • MACSAT 2 (M 2)
  • NORAD 20608
  • 1990-043B
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where MACSAT 2 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Caribbean Sea

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches MACSAT 2 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 MACSAT 2, 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

  2. Close approach

    On Wednesday, Oct 28 at 8:46 PM UTC, a fragment of CZ-6A (NORAD 60898) was to pass within 177 m of Macsat 2 (M 2) (NORAD 20608). The chance was about 1 in 2,000.

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is MACSAT 2?

At 6:21:10 PM UTC MACSAT 2 was over the Indian Ocean (12.7° S, 97.6° E), 689 km up, moving at 7.48 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is MACSAT 2?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since May 9, 1990.

Can I see MACSAT 2?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for MACSAT 2, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
State
United States of America
Built by
Defense Systems Inc
What it is
Communications satellite
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
70 kg
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, 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
6:21 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:21 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
12.7° S, 97.6° E
Altitude
689 km
Speed
7.48 km/s (26,928 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 6:30 PM UTC
Inclination
89.8°
Orbital period
97.2 minutes
Orbits per day
14.81
This orbit
566 to 681 km
In shadow
35 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,920 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 6:08 AM, 11 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:08 AM, 12 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for MACSAT 2, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
1 reported. No close approach to MACSAT 2 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

MACSAT 2 shares its launch, 1990-043, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
MACSAT 1 (M 1)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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
MACSAT 2566 to 681 km97 minutes70 kg1990
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, 6:08 AM, 11 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "MACSAT 2 (M 2)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1990-043B",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:08:06.438048",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.80898237,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0081816,
  "INCLINATION": 89.7612,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 240.7733,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 15.1791,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 345.1859,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 20608,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 95971,
  "BSTAR": 0.00018623981,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00001542,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}