- Earth-watching satellite
- GCOM W1
- NORAD 38337
- 2012-025A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Northwest Passage
Orbit ends over Viscount Melville Sound
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches Shizuku 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 Shizuku, 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 People's Republic of China LIVE
Where is Shizuku?
At 5:35:31 PM UTC Shizuku was over the People's Republic of China (45.7° N, 127.8° E), 709 km up, moving at 7.51 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is Shizuku?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since May 17, 2012.
Can I see Shizuku?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Shizuku, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
- State
- Japan (Nippon), State of
- Built by
- NEC Toshiba Space, Fuchu works
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- about 2 t
- 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
- 45.7° N, 127.8° E
- Altitude
- 709 km
- Speed
- 7.51 km/s (27,022 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 6:00 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.2°
- Orbital period
- 98.8 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.57
- This orbit
- 699 to 700 km
- In shadow
- 33 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,960 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 2:11 AM, 15 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:11 AM, 15 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Shizuku, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Shizuku 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
Shizuku shares its launch, 2012-025, with 5 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| KOMPSAT 3 | Earth-watching satellite |
| SDS-4 | Satellite |
| HORYU 2 | Satellite |
| H-2A R/B | Rocket body |
| H-2A DEB | Debris |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shizuku | 699 to 700 km | 99 minutes | about 2 t | 2012 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
| Landsat 9 | 702 to 704 km | 99 minutes | about 2.7 t | 2021 |
| 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, 2:11 AM, 15 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "GCOM W1",
"OBJECT_ID": "2012-025A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:11:49.646976",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.57095606,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00011844,
"INCLINATION": 98.2164,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 250.5392,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 78.0816,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 292.9047,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 38337,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 76999,
"BSTAR": 0.00012958716,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000538,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}