- NORAD 27422
- 2002-021B
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Java Sea
Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P 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 IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P, 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 Sunday, Oct 11 at 6:40 AM UTC, a fragment of Fengyun 1C (NORAD 35169) was to pass within 133 m of Idefix/Ariane 42P (NORAD 27422). The chance was about 1 in 700.
Summary
Over Antarctica LIVE
Where is IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P?
At 6:20:21 PM UTC IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P was over Antarctica (69.5° S, 81.9° E), 811 km up, moving at 7.45 km/s and in sunlight.
What is IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since May 4, 2002.
Can I see IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Launched
- Mass
- about 2 t
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the launch day and the mass. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 69.5° S, 81.9° E
- Altitude
- 811 km
- Speed
- 7.45 km/s (26,816 km/h)
- Course
- south-west
- Light
- In sunlight until 7:20 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.6°
- Orbital period
- 100.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.31
- This orbit
- 777 to 793 km
- In shadow
- 33 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,130 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 10:42 PM, 19 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 10:42 PM, 19 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P 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
IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P shares its launch, 2002-021, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SPOT 5 | Earth-watching 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, 10:42 PM, 19 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P",
"OBJECT_ID": "2002-021B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T22:42:43.394976",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.31137602,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.0011466,
"INCLINATION": 98.6071,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 247.9359,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 186.6045,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 173.4988,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 27422,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 27881,
"BSTAR": 0.00010333014,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000229,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}