SkySat C12

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/43797

  • Earth-watching satellite
  • SKYSAT C12
  • NORAD 43797
  • 2018-099AR
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where SkySat C12 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Red Sea

Orbit ends over Libya

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches SkySat C12 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 C12, 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 C12?

At 4:54:37 PM UTC SkySat C12 was over the Pacific Ocean (9.6° S, 152.2° W), 415 km up, moving at 7.66 km/s and in sunlight.

What is SkySat C12?

A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 3, 2018.

Can I see SkySat C12?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SkySat C12, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.

General

Operator
Terra Bella (Planet)
State
United States of America
Built by
SS/Loral (Maxar)
What it is
Earth-watching satellite
Launched
Mass
110 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
4:54 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
4:54 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
9.6° S, 152.2° W
Altitude
415 km
Speed
7.66 km/s (27,576 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
96.9°
Orbital period
92.7 minutes
Orbits per day
15.53
This orbit
401 to 407 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 1,380 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 6:49 AM, 10 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:49 AM, 10 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for SkySat C12, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to SkySat C12 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 C12 shares its launch, 2018-099, with 40 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
MINXSS-2Space telescope
SIRION PATHFINDER-2Communications satellite
OBJECT DSatellite
STPSAT-5Satellite
UPPER FREE FLYERSatellite
HAWK-ASatellite
SPAWAR-CAL-OSatellite
CORVUS BC4Earth-watching satellite
AISTECHSAT-2Communications satellite
AO-95Satellite
OBJECT PSatellite
RANGE ASatellite
OBJECT TSatellite
SPAWAR-CAL-RSatellite
SPAWAR-CAL-ORSatellite
M1Earth-watching satellite
SNUSAT-2Satellite
KAZSTSATEarth-watching satellite
SNUGLITESatellite
ITASATSatellite
EAGLET 1Satellite
ESEOSatellite
HAWK-BSatellite
THEASatellite
ASTROCAST-01Communications satellite
HAWK-CSatellite
ICEYE-X2Earth-watching satellite
JY1SATSatellite
SUOMI100Satellite
OBJECT BASatellite
EUCROPISSatellite
POLAR SCOUT YUKONSatellite
CENTAURI-1Communications satellite
OBJECT BESatellite
NEXTSAT-1Space telescope
GLOBAL-2Earth-watching satellite
FALCONSAT-6Satellite
EXCITESatellite
SEAHAWK-1Satellite
OBJECT BSSatellite

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 C12401 to 407 km93 minutes110 kg2018
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 8, 2026, 6:49 AM, 10 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "SKYSAT C12",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2018-099AR",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:49:13.700640",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 15.53318021,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00042089,
  "INCLINATION": 96.9172,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 330.0994,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 26.0542,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 334.0923,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 43797,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 44419,
  "BSTAR": 0.00050855851,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00032074,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}