Explorer 40

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/3338

  • EXPLORER 40 (INJUN-5)
  • NORAD 3338
  • 1968-066B
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Explorer 40 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Central African Republic

Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Explorer 40 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 Explorer 40, 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 Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is Explorer 40?

At 7:03:34 PM UTC Explorer 40 was over the Pacific Ocean (2.6° N, 178° W), 2,469 km up, moving at 6.33 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Explorer 40?

A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Aug 8, 1968.

Can I see Explorer 40?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Explorer 40, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
NASA Langley Research Center
State
United States of America
Built by
University of Iowa (=SUI)
Launched
Mass
70 kg
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
Orbit class
Medium 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
7:03 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:03 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
2.6° N, 178° W
Altitude
2,469 km
Speed
6.33 km/s (22,777 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 8:06 PM UTC
Inclination
80.7°
Orbital period
117.7 minutes
Orbits per day
12.24
This orbit
676 to 2,472 km
In shadow
17 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 3,870 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 12:26 AM, 18 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:26 AM, 18 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Explorer 40, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Explorer 40 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

Explorer 40 shares its launch, 1968-066, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
SCOUT B R/BRocket body
SCOUT B DEBDebris
SCOUT B DEBDebris

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, 12:26 AM, 18 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "EXPLORER 40 (INJUN-5)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1968-066B",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:26:56.033376",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 12.23592268,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.11291167,
  "INCLINATION": 80.6624,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 336.9133,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 5.9023,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 355.4131,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 3338,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 59590,
  "BSTAR": 0.0001327667,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000132,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}