- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- COSMOS 2517 (GEO-IK)
- NORAD 41579
- 2016-034A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Canada
Orbit ends over the Arctic Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Geo-IK-2 No. 12L 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 Geo-IK-2 No. 12L, 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 Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Geo-IK-2 No. 12L?
At 6:35:39 PM UTC Geo-IK-2 No. 12L was over the Pacific Ocean (41.1° N, 180° W), 948 km up, moving at 7.38 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Geo-IK-2 No. 12L?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Jun 4, 2016.
Can I see Geo-IK-2 No. 12L?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Geo-IK-2 No. 12L, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Topographics Service of the Russian Armed Froces
- State
- Russian Federation
- Built by
- OAO M. Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 900 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, 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
- 6:35 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:35 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 41.1° N, 180° W
- Altitude
- 948 km
- Speed
- 7.38 km/s (26,575 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 99.2°
- Orbital period
- 103.9 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.86
- This orbit
- 940 to 941 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,330 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:31 AM, 11 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:31 AM, 11 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Geo-IK-2 No. 12L, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Geo-IK-2 No. 12L 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
Geo-IK-2 No. 12L shares its launch, 2016-034, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| BREEZE-KM R/B | Rocket 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geo-IK-2 No. 12L | 940 to 941 km | 104 minutes | 900 kg | 2016 |
| Sentinel-5P | 826 to 828 km | 101 minutes | 820 kg | 2017 |
| Suomi NPP | 825 to 829 km | 101 minutes | about 2.1 t | 2011 |
| MetOp-SG A1 | 820 to 821 km | 101 minutes | about 4 t | 2025 |
| Metop-B | 818 to 823 km | 101 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2012 |
| Metop-C | 820 to 821 km | 101 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2018 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 7:31 AM, 11 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 2517 (GEO-IK)",
"OBJECT_ID": "2016-034A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:31:59.182752",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.85908941,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00008038,
"INCLINATION": 99.1907,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 318.383,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 88.7264,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 271.3984,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 41579,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 52759,
"BSTAR": 0.000047614814,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 1.1e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}