SkySat A

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/39418

  • Earth-watching satellite
  • SKYSAT 1
  • NORAD 39418
  • 2013-066C
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where SkySat A is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches SkySat A 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 SkySat A, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is SkySat A?

At 4:55:11 PM UTC SkySat A was over the Pacific Ocean (21.7° S, 127.2° W), 521 km up, moving at 7.61 km/s and in sunlight.

What is SkySat A?

A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Nov 21, 2013.

Can I see SkySat A?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SkySat A, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.

General

Operator
Skybox Imaging
State
United States of America
Built by
Skybox Imaging
What it is
Earth-watching satellite
Launched
Mass
90 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
4:55 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
4:55 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
21.7° S, 127.2° W
Altitude
521 km
Speed
7.61 km/s (27,392 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 5:26 PM UTC
Inclination
97.4°
Orbital period
95.1 minutes
Orbits per day
15.14
This orbit
507 to 537 km
In shadow
30 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,610 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 8:59 PM, 19 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 8:59 PM, 19 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for SkySat A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to SkySat A 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

SkySat A shares its launch, 2013-066, with 25 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
APRIZESAT 7Communications satellite
ZACUBESatellite
DUBAISAT 2Earth-watching satellite
OPTOSSatellite
UNISAT 5Satellite
STSAT 3Space telescope
WNISAT 1Earth-watching satellite
CINEMA 2Satellite
APRIZESAT 8Communications satellite
CINEMA 3Satellite
TRITON 1Communications satellite
DELFI-N3XTSatellite
DOVE 3Earth-watching satellite
GOMX 1Communications satellite
BRITE-PLSpace telescope
ICUBE 1Satellite
VELOX-P 2Satellite
CUBEBUG 2Satellite
NEE 02 KRYSAORSatellite
PUCP-SAT 1Satellite
FUNCUBE 1Satellite
HINCUBEEarth-watching satellite
UWE-3Satellite
BPA 3/SL-24Satellite
SL-24 DEBDebris

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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
SkySat A507 to 537 km95 minutes90 kg2013
PAZ507 to 510 km95 minutesabout 1.4 t2018
WorldView-3612 to 615 km97 minutesabout 2.8 t2014
SAOCOM 1A622 to 624 km97 minutesabout 3 t2018
ALOS-2630 to 632 km97 minutesabout 2.1 t2014
SMAP681 to 683 km98 minutes944 kg2015

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 8:59 PM, 19 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "SKYSAT 1",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2013-066C",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T20:59:35.984256",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 15.13636949,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0021302,
  "INCLINATION": 97.364,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 356.6117,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 172.4152,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 187.7406,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 39418,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 71021,
  "BSTAR": 0.00023676,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00004213,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}