- Military
- OPTICUBE 04
- NORAD 41851
- 2016-067D
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches Opticube 04 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 Opticube 04, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Kara Sea LIVE
Where is Opticube 04?
At 6:21:21 PM UTC Opticube 04 was over the Kara Sea (79.3° N, 77.6° E), 551 km up, moving at 7.59 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is Opticube 04?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Nov 11, 2016.
Can I see Opticube 04?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Opticube 04, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Research Laboratories/RV (Space Vehicles Directorate)
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- California Polytechnic State University
- 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, 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
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 79.3° N, 77.6° E
- Altitude
- 551 km
- Speed
- 7.59 km/s (27,331 km/h)
- Course
- south-west
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 6:49 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98°
- Orbital period
- 95.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 15.1
- This orbit
- 522 to 543 km
- In shadow
- 30 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,670 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 2:01 AM, 14 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:01 AM, 16 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Opticube 04, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Opticube 04 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
Opticube 04 shares its launch, 2016-067, with 4 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| RAVAN | Satellite |
| CELTEE 1 | Satellite |
| AEROCUBE 8D | Satellite |
| AEROCUBE 8C | Satellite |
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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:01 AM, 14 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OPTICUBE 04",
"OBJECT_ID": "2016-067D",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:01:33.670272",
"MEAN_MOTION": 15.10156407,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00153239,
"INCLINATION": 98.0486,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 171.7849,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 356.1646,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 3.9462,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 41851,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 54688,
"BSTAR": 0.00017769776,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00002835,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}