Tan weixing

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/41898

  • Earth-watching satellite
  • TANSAT
  • NORAD 41898
  • 2016-081A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Tan weixing is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Tasman Sea

Orbit ends over the Great Australian Bight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Tan weixing 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 Tan weixing, 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 Atlantic Ocean LIVE

Where is Tan weixing?

At 6:45:42 PM UTC Tan weixing was over the Atlantic Ocean (23° S, 8.4° W), 708 km up, moving at 7.5 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Tan weixing?

A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 21, 2016.

Can I see Tan weixing?

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

General

Operator
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, SIMIT
State
China, People's Republic of
Built by
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, SIMIT
What it is
Earth-watching satellite
Launched
Mass
620 kg
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
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
6:45 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:45 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
23° S, 8.4° W
Altitude
708 km
Speed
7.5 km/s (26,989 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
98.5°
Orbital period
98.6 minutes
Orbits per day
14.6
This orbit
676 to 704 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 1,960 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 7:21 AM, 11 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:21 AM, 11 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Tan weixing 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

Tan weixing shares its launch, 2016-081, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
YIJIANEarth-watching satellite
SPARK 1Earth-watching satellite
SPARK 2Earth-watching 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.

Beside the others

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Tan weixing676 to 704 km99 minutes620 kg2016
Terra688 to 691 km99 minutesabout 5.2 t1999
Sentinel-1A693 to 695 km99 minutesabout 2.2 t2014
Aqua685 to 687 km98 minutesabout 2.9 t2002
Sentinel-1C695 to 697 km99 minutesabout 2.2 t2024
Sentinel-1D695 to 697 km99 minutesabout 2.2 t2025

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 7:21 AM, 11 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "TANSAT",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2016-081A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:21:15.000768",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.60024212,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00195728,
  "INCLINATION": 98.5417,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 316.8798,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 221.8871,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 138.0832,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 41898,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 52565,
  "BSTAR": 0.000063556254,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000255,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}