- Earth-watching satellite
- NORAD 38755
- 2012-047A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Greenland
Orbit ends over Canada
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches SPOT 6 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 SPOT 6, 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 Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is SPOT 6?
At 5:39:01 PM UTC SPOT 6 was over the Indian Ocean (35.9° S, 71.5° E), 712 km up, moving at 7.5 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is SPOT 6?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 9, 2012.
Can I see SPOT 6?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SPOT 6, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- SPOT Image
- State
- French Republic
- Built by
- Astrium (F) Toulouse
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 712 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
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:39 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 35.9° S, 71.5° E
- Altitude
- 712 km
- Speed
- 7.5 km/s (26,993 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 6:09 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.2°
- Orbital period
- 98.7 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.59
- This orbit
- 694 to 696 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, 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 SPOT 6, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to SPOT 6 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
SPOT 6 shares its launch, 2012-047, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPOT 6 | 694 to 696 km | 99 minutes | 712 kg | 2012 |
| Sentinel-1A | 693 to 695 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2014 |
| 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 |
| Terra | 688 to 691 km | 99 minutes | about 5.2 t | 1999 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
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": "SPOT 6",
"OBJECT_ID": "2012-047A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:17:27.149856",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.58551989,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00013106,
"INCLINATION": 98.1975,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 17.7557,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 102.1032,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 258.0314,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 38755,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 75405,
"BSTAR": 0.000051959514,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000196,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}