Essaim E12

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/28497

  • Military
  • ESSAIM-4
  • NORAD 28497
  • 2004-049F
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Essaim E12 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Russia

Orbit ends over Russia

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Essaim E12 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 Essaim E12, 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 Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is Essaim E12?

At 5:39:09 PM UTC Essaim E12 was over the Indian Ocean (14.9° S, 70.8° E), 609 km up, moving at 7.55 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Essaim E12?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 18, 2004.

Can I see Essaim E12?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Essaim E12, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
National Space Research Center
State
French Republic
Built by
EADS Bremen
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
119 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
5:39 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:39 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
14.9° S, 70.8° E
Altitude
609 km
Speed
7.55 km/s (27,194 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 5:47 PM UTC
Inclination
98.2°
Orbital period
96.7 minutes
Orbits per day
14.88
This orbit
599 to 601 km
In shadow
35 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,780 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 2:57 PM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 2:57 PM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Essaim E12, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Essaim E12 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.

Launched with

Essaim E12 shares its launch, 2004-049, with 7 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
HELIOS 2AEarth-watching satellite
NANOSAT(1)Satellite
ESSAIM-1Satellite
ESSAIM-2Satellite
ESSAIM-3Satellite
PARASOLEarth-watching satellite
ARIANE 5 R/BRocket 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 7, 2026, 2:57 PM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "ESSAIM-4",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2004-049F",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T14:57:53.889696",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.88401068,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00013203,
  "INCLINATION": 98.2337,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 204.5807,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 123.6145,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 236.5196,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 28497,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 18079,
  "BSTAR": 0.00015734363,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00001399,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}