- Earth-watching satellite
- CBERS 1
- NORAD 25940
- 1999-057A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Southern Ocean
Orbit ends over the Southern Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Zi Yuan 1-01 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 Zi Yuan 1-01, 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
- Close approach
On Monday, Oct 26 at 11:57 PM UTC, a fragment of Fengyun 1C (NORAD 30181) was to pass within 652 m of Cbers 1 (NORAD 25940). The chance was about 1 in 2,000.
Summary
Over France LIVE
Where is Zi Yuan 1-01?
At 5:35:42 PM UTC Zi Yuan 1-01 was over France (47.1° N, 4.9° E), 776 km up, moving at 7.47 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Zi Yuan 1-01?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Oct 14, 1999.
Can I see Zi Yuan 1-01?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Zi Yuan 1-01, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing (CASC 5th Acad)
- State
- China, People's Republic of
- Built by
- Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing (CASC 5th Acad)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.5 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
- 5:35 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:35 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 47.1° N, 4.9° E
- Altitude
- 776 km
- Speed
- 7.47 km/s (26,892 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 98.8°
- Orbital period
- 100.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.37
- This orbit
- 763 to 768 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,070 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:20 AM, 10 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:20 AM, 10 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Zi Yuan 1-01, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to Zi Yuan 1-01 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
Zi Yuan 1-01 shares its launch, 1999-057, with 121 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zi Yuan 1-01 | 763 to 768 km | 100 minutes | about 1.5 t | 1999 |
| Envisat | 761 to 762 km | 100 minutes | about 8.1 t | 2002 |
| NISAR | 749 to 751 km | 100 minutes | about 2.4 t | 2025 |
| 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, 7:20 AM, 10 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "CBERS 1",
"OBJECT_ID": "1999-057A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:20:52.451232",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.37048493,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00039627,
"INCLINATION": 98.847,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 325.9319,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 299.2387,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 60.8402,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 25940,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 41821,
"BSTAR": 0.000080051112,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000191,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}