- DOUBLESTAR (TC-2)
- NORAD 28382
- 2004-029A
- Highly elliptical orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Arctic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Arctic Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Tan Ce 2 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 Tan Ce 2, 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 Southern Ocean LIVE
Where is Tan Ce 2?
At 5:36:31 PM UTC Tan Ce 2 was over the Southern Ocean (65.1° S, 107° E), 26,945 km up, moving at 2.45 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Tan Ce 2?
A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Jul 25, 2004.
Can I see Tan Ce 2?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Tan Ce 2, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- China Aerospace Corp
- State
- China, People's Republic of
- Built by
- Spaceflight East Is Red Satellite Co
- Launched
- Mass
- 343 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Highly elliptical 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
- 65.1° S, 107° E
- Altitude
- 26,945 km
- Speed
- 2.45 km/s (8,809 km/h)
- Course
- south-west
- Light
- In sunlight until 12:01 AM UTC
- Inclination
- 87.9°
- Orbital period
- 549.1 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 2.62
- This orbit
- 457 to 31,203 km
- In shadow
- 34 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,690 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 6, 2026, 7:32 AM, 2 days old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 6, 2026, 7:32 AM, 2 days old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Tan Ce 2, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Tan Ce 2 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
Tan Ce 2 shares its launch, 2004-029, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| CZ-2C R/B | Rocket body |
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 6, 2026, 7:32 AM, 2 days old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "DOUBLESTAR (TC-2)",
"OBJECT_ID": "2004-029A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-06T07:32:33.946656",
"MEAN_MOTION": 2.62270596,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.69222351,
"INCLINATION": 87.8712,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 234.5363,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 85.2172,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 344.1797,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 28382,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 18440,
"BSTAR": 0.00079599593,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000348,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}