- Navigation satellite
- QZS-2
- NORAD 42738
- 2017-028A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Great Australian Bight
Orbit ends over the Great Australian Bight
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Michibiki-2 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 Michibiki-2, 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 far too high and too faint for the naked eye. What you notice of it is a position fix, and the card above says whether it is above your horizon to give you one.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Banda Sea LIVE
Where is Michibiki-2?
At 4:55:37 PM UTC Michibiki-2 was over the Banda Sea (6.3° S, 126.9° E), 35,103 km up, moving at 3.13 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Michibiki-2?
A navigation satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jun 1, 2017.
Can I see Michibiki-2?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Michibiki-2, and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.
General
- Operator
- Cabinet Space Strategy Office
- State
- Japan (Nippon), State of
- Built by
- Mitsubishi Electric Co.
- What it is
- Navigation satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- about 4 t
- Operating
- Yes
- Orbit class
- Inclined geosynchronous
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
- 6.3° S, 126.9° E
- Altitude
- 35,103 km
- Speed
- 3.13 km/s (11,250 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 2:05 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 39.2°
- Orbital period
- 1,436.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1
- This orbit
- 32,650 to 38,935 km
- In shadow
- 69 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,930 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Oct 17, 2026, 3:21 PM, 22 days old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Oct 17, 2026, 3:21 PM, 22 days old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Michibiki-2, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Michibiki-2 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
Michibiki-2 shares its launch, 2017-028, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| H-2A 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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Oct 17, 2026, 3:21 PM, 22 days old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "QZS-2",
"OBJECT_ID": "2017-028A",
"EPOCH": "2026-10-17T15:21:52.982784",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.0025173,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.07452088,
"INCLINATION": 39.2498,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 241.3539,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 270.8929,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 243.8231,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 42738,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 885,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000204,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}