Gravity Probe B

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/28230

  • GP-B
  • NORAD 28230
  • 2004-014A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Gravity Probe B is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Arctic Ocean

Orbit ends over the Arctic Ocean

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Gravity Probe B 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 Gravity Probe B, 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

Summary

Over the Andaman Sea LIVE

Where is Gravity Probe B?

At 5:36:57 PM UTC Gravity Probe B was over the Andaman Sea (11° N, 95.4° E), 621 km up, moving at 7.55 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Gravity Probe B?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 20, 2004.

Can I see Gravity Probe B?

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

General

Operator
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
State
United States of America
Built by
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, Sunnyvale
Launched
Mass
about 3.1 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
5:36 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:36 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
11° N, 95.4° E
Altitude
621 km
Speed
7.55 km/s (27,176 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 5:56 PM UTC
Inclination
89.9°
Orbital period
97.1 minutes
Orbits per day
14.83
This orbit
613 to 618 km
In shadow
35 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,800 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 11:45 PM, 17 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:45 PM, 17 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Gravity Probe B, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Gravity Probe B 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 11:45 PM, 17 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "GP-B",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2004-014A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:45:29.142432",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.83439162,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0003246,
  "INCLINATION": 89.8589,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 47.4994,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 97.8901,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 262.2693,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 28230,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 67366,
  "BSTAR": 0.00010490964,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000878,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}