Picosat 1

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/26080

  • Military
  • PICOSAT 1&2 (TETHERED)
  • NORAD 26080
  • 2000-004H
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

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

Orbit began over Baffin Bay

Orbit ends over the Northwest Passage

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Picosat 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 Picosat 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

  2. Close approach

    On Friday, Oct 23 at 3:16 PM UTC, a fragment of Fengyun 1C (NORAD 33636) was to pass within 50 m of Picosat 1&2 (Tethered) (NORAD 26080). The chance was about 1 in 400.

Summary

Over Russia LIVE

Where is Picosat 1?

At 6:21:16 PM UTC Picosat 1 was over Russia (50.2° N, 42.7° E), 729 km up, moving at 7.5 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Picosat 1?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 27, 2000.

Can I see Picosat 1?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Picosat 1, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
State
United States of America
Built by
Aerospace Corp.
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
0.3 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
6:21 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:21 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
50.2° N, 42.7° E
Altitude
729 km
Speed
7.5 km/s (27,007 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 6:27 PM UTC
Inclination
100.2°
Orbital period
99.5 minutes
Orbits per day
14.48
This orbit
708 to 751 km
In shadow
33 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,990 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 11:52 PM, 17 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:52 PM, 18 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
1 reported. No close approach to Picosat 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

Picosat 1 shares its launch, 2000-004, with 10 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
JAWSATSatellite
OPALSatellite
FALCONSATSatellite
ASUSATCommunications satellite
MINOTAUR R/BRocket body
MINOTAUR DEBDebris
PICOSAT 3Satellite
PICOSAT 4Satellite
PICOSAT 5Communications satellite
PICOSAT 6Communications 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.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 11:52 PM, 17 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "PICOSAT 1&2 (TETHERED)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2000-004H",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:52:32.639808",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.47858133,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00300673,
  "INCLINATION": 100.1989,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 17.428,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 111.2698,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 249.1704,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 26080,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 40772,
  "BSTAR": 0.00018808907,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000638,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}