- Communications satellite
- Military
- SMDC ONE 1.2
- NORAD 38759
- 2012-048B
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
Orbit ends over Canada
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker) 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 SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker), 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 reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the United States of America LIVE
Where is SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker)?
At 4:55:06 PM UTC SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker) was over the United States of America (64.4° N, 157.8° W), 468 km up, moving at 7.66 km/s and in sunlight.
What is SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker)?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 13, 2012.
Can I see SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker)?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker), and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC)
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Miltec Missiles and Space Co.
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 4 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, 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
- 4:55 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 4:55 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 64.4° N, 157.8° W
- Altitude
- 468 km
- Speed
- 7.66 km/s (27,576 km/h)
- Course
- east
- Light
- In sunlight until 5:52 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 64.7°
- Orbital period
- 94.5 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 15.23
- This orbit
- 446 to 544 km
- In shadow
- 35 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,500 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:05 AM, 9 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:05 AM, 9 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker), so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker) 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
SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker) shares its launch, 2012-048, with 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker) | 446 to 544 km | 95 minutes | 4 kg | 2012 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 7:05 AM, 9 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "SMDC ONE 1.2",
"OBJECT_ID": "2012-048B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:05:29.432256",
"MEAN_MOTION": 15.23096307,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00712695,
"INCLINATION": 64.6574,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 66.1548,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 123.8922,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 236.9012,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 38759,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 13808,
"BSTAR": 0.00068323746,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00017199,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}