- Earth-watching satellite
- NORAD 36508
- 2010-013A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Arctic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Arctic Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches CRYOSAT 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 CRYOSAT 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 for the naked eye. What it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is CRYOSAT 2?
At 5:35:48 PM UTC CRYOSAT 2 was over the Atlantic Ocean (60.2° S, 4° E), 744 km up, moving at 7.48 km/s and in sunlight.
What is CRYOSAT 2?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 8, 2010.
Can I see CRYOSAT 2?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for CRYOSAT 2, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- European Space Agency
- State
- European Space Agency
- Built by
- EADS Astrium Satellites (D), Friedrichsafen
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 720 kg
- Operating
- Yes
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, 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
- 60.2° S, 4° E
- Altitude
- 744 km
- Speed
- 7.48 km/s (26,932 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 92°
- Orbital period
- 99.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.52
- This orbit
- 715 to 718 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,020 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 6:17 AM, 11 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:17 AM, 11 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for CRYOSAT 2, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to CRYOSAT 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
CRYOSAT 2 shares its launch, 2010-013, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRYOSAT 2 | 715 to 718 km | 99 minutes | 720 kg | 2010 |
| Landsat 9 | 702 to 704 km | 99 minutes | about 2.7 t | 2021 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
| Sentinel-1C | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2024 |
| Sentinel-1D | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2025 |
| Sentinel-1A | 693 to 695 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2014 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 6:17 AM, 11 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "CRYOSAT 2",
"OBJECT_ID": "2010-013A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:17:40.626528",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.51903853,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00026071,
"INCLINATION": 92.0214,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 312.2225,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 94.9048,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 265.2457,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 36508,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 87898,
"BSTAR": 0.000063674176,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000259,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}