Beidou DW 8

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/37384

  • Navigation satellite
  • Military
  • BEIDOU 8
  • NORAD 37384
  • 2011-013A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where Beidou DW 8 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Indian Ocean

Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Beidou DW 8 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 Beidou DW 8, 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 far too high and too faint for the naked eye. What you notice of it is a position fix, and the card above says whether it is above your horizon to give you one.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Gulf of Thailand LIVE

Where is Beidou DW 8?

At 4:54:34 PM UTC Beidou DW 8 was over the Gulf of Thailand (9.3° N, 102.1° E), 35,933 km up, moving at 3.06 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Beidou DW 8?

A navigation satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Apr 9, 2011.

Can I see Beidou DW 8?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Beidou DW 8, and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.

General

Operator
China National Space Administration
State
China, People's Republic of
Built by
Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing (CASC 5th Acad)
What it is
Navigation satellite
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
about 2.3 t
Operating
Yes
Orbit class
Inclined geosynchronous

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, 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
4:54 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
4:54 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
9.3° N, 102.1° E
Altitude
35,933 km
Speed
3.06 km/s (11,030 km/h)
Course
north-west
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 5:53 PM UTC
Inclination
62.6°
Orbital period
1,436 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,636 to 35,933 km
In shadow
65 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 7,950 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 3:49 PM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 3:49 PM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Beidou DW 8, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Beidou DW 8 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

Beidou DW 8 shares its launch, 2011-013, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
CZ-3A 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, 3:49 PM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "BEIDOU 8",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2011-013A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T15:49:50.316960",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 1.00278932,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00351662,
  "INCLINATION": 62.6113,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 38.8106,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 188.4212,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 164.883,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 37384,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 5709,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.0000021,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}