Kiwi

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/43798

  • Communications satellite
  • ASTROCAST-01
  • NORAD 43798
  • 2018-099AS
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

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

Orbit began over Russia

Orbit ends over Russia

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kiwi 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 Kiwi, 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 reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Canada LIVE

Where is Kiwi?

At 4:54:39 PM UTC Kiwi was over Canada (58.9° N, 72.4° W), 392 km up, moving at 7.68 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kiwi?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 3, 2018.

Can I see Kiwi?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kiwi, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Astrocast
State
Swiss Confederation
Built by
Astrocast
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
5 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
58.9° N, 72.4° W
Altitude
392 km
Speed
7.68 km/s (27,652 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 5:42 PM UTC
Inclination
97.4°
Orbital period
92.2 minutes
Orbits per day
15.61
This orbit
379 to 383 km
In shadow
36 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,330 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 2:33 AM, 14 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:33 AM, 14 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kiwi 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

Kiwi 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
SKYSAT C12Earth-watching 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
Kiwi379 to 383 km92 minutes5 kg2018
BlueWalker 3443 to 453 km94 minutesabout 1.5 t2022
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:33 AM, 14 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "ASTROCAST-01",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2018-099AS",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:33:13.316832",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 15.61252043,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0003335,
  "INCLINATION": 97.4266,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 36.1272,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 66.0176,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 294.143,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 43798,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 43679,
  "BSTAR": 0.0011410551,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00097579,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}