- Military
- REFLECTOR
- NORAD 27005
- 2001-056E
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Barents Sea
Orbit ends over the Norwegian Sea
In view from you
Nobody watches Reflector 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 Reflector, 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
Summary
Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Reflector?
At 6:19:25 PM UTC Reflector was over the Pacific Ocean (10.3° S, 164.6° E), 1,004 km up, moving at 7.35 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Reflector?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 10, 2001.
Can I see Reflector?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Reflector, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Research Laboratories/RV (Space Vehicles Directorate)
- State
- Russian Federation
- Built by
- Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 8 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
- 10.3° S, 164.6° E
- Altitude
- 1,004 km
- Speed
- 7.35 km/s (26,446 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 99.8°
- Orbital period
- 105 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.71
- This orbit
- 978 to 1,006 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,410 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:52 AM, 10 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:52 AM, 10 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Reflector, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Reflector has been reported publicly in the past thirty 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
Reflector shares its launch, 2001-056, with 13 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| METEOR 3M | Earth-watching satellite |
| KOMPASS | Satellite |
| BADR B | Earth-watching satellite |
| MAROC TUBSAT | Earth-watching satellite |
| SL-16 R/B | Rocket body |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 DEB | Debris |
| SL-16 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, 7:52 AM, 10 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "REFLECTOR",
"OBJECT_ID": "2001-056E",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:52:09.351264",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.71474395,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.0018932,
"INCLINATION": 99.7736,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 125.1886,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 103.5427,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 256.783,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 27005,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 24629,
"BSTAR": 1.98897e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -4.6e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}