- Military
- NORAD 22698
- 1993-041A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Russia
Orbit ends over the Kara Sea
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches RADCAL 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 RADCAL, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
- Close approach
On Saturday, Oct 10 at 8:36 PM UTC, a fragment of Fengyun 1C (NORAD 37404) was to pass within 248 m of Radcal (NORAD 22698). The chance was about 1 in 300.
Summary
Over the Southern Ocean LIVE
Where is RADCAL?
At 6:19:47 PM UTC RADCAL was over the Southern Ocean (67.2° S, 89.6° W), 901 km up, moving at 7.37 km/s and in sunlight.
What is RADCAL?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jun 25, 1993.
Can I see RADCAL?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for RADCAL, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- USAF Western Space and Missile Center
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- CTA Space Systems Inc
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 87 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, 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
- 6:19 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:19 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 67.2° S, 89.6° W
- Altitude
- 901 km
- Speed
- 7.37 km/s (26,521 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:39 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 89.5°
- Orbital period
- 101.1 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.24
- This orbit
- 743 to 873 km
- In shadow
- 35 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,270 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:22 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:22 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for RADCAL, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to RADCAL 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.
Launched with
RADCAL shares its launch, 1993-041, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SCOUT G-1 R/B | Rocket body |
| SCOUT G-1 DEB | Debris |
| SCOUT G-1 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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:22 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "RADCAL",
"OBJECT_ID": "1993-041A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:22:31.012320",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.24214069,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00904267,
"INCLINATION": 89.5084,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 52.1177,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 75.3055,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 285.814,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 22698,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 73269,
"BSTAR": 0.000048332254,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.0000013,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}