Raijin

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/33494

  • SPRITE-SAT (RISING)
  • NORAD 33494
  • 2009-002C
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Raijin is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over Antarctica

Orbit ends over Antarctica

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Raijin 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 Raijin, 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 Raijin?

At 5:35:45 PM UTC Raijin was over the Pacific Ocean (10.5° N, 94.7° W), 646 km up, moving at 7.54 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Raijin?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 23, 2009.

Can I see Raijin?

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

General

Operator
Tohoku University
State
Japan (Nippon), State of
Built by
Tohoku University
Launched
Mass
20 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
5:35 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:35 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
10.5° N, 94.7° W
Altitude
646 km
Speed
7.54 km/s (27,126 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 5:59 PM UTC
Inclination
98.1°
Orbital period
97.6 minutes
Orbits per day
14.75
This orbit
639 to 642 km
In shadow
35 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,850 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 11:38 PM, 17 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:38 PM, 17 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Raijin 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

Raijin shares its launch, 2009-002, with 7 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
GOSAT (IBUKI)Earth-watching satellite
KAGAYAKISatellite
SOHLA-1 (MAIDO-1)Satellite
SDS-1Satellite
STARS (KUKAI)Satellite
KKS-1 (KISEKI)Satellite
H-2A 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, 11:38 PM, 17 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "SPRITE-SAT (RISING)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2009-002C",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:38:42.635616",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.75491198,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00020582,
  "INCLINATION": 98.1413,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 217.964,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 258.499,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 101.5988,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 33494,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 95501,
  "BSTAR": 0.00010969394,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000694,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}