- CUBEL
- NORAD 47448
- 2021-006AM
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Pakistan
Orbit ends over Saudi Arabia
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches CubeL 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 CubeL, 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 Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is CubeL?
At 5:36:14 PM UTC CubeL was over the Indian Ocean (3.2° N, 49.9° E), 427 km up, moving at 7.66 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is CubeL?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 24, 2021.
Can I see CubeL?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for CubeL, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- German Aerospace Center
- State
- Germany, Federal Republic of
- Built by
- German Aerospace Center
- Launched
- Mass
- 4 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 3.2° N, 49.9° E
- Altitude
- 427 km
- Speed
- 7.66 km/s (27,569 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 5:55 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 97.2°
- Orbital period
- 93.1 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 15.46
- This orbit
- 421 to 429 km
- In shadow
- 32 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,410 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 12:30 AM, 16 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:30 AM, 17 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for CubeL, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to CubeL 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
CubeL shares its launch, 2021-006, with 11 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| OBJECT L | Satellite |
| OBJECT M | Satellite |
| RIDESHARE ADAPTER | Satellite |
| OBJECT Z | Satellite |
| OBJECT AA | Satellite |
| CELESTIS 17/SHERPA-FX1 | Satellite |
| HAWK-2C | Satellite |
| ION SCV-002 | Satellite |
| HAWK-2A | Satellite |
| HAWK-2B | Satellite |
| GHGSAT-C2 | Earth-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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 12:30 AM, 16 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "CUBEL",
"OBJECT_ID": "2021-006AM",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:30:11.998944",
"MEAN_MOTION": 15.46030339,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00061578,
"INCLINATION": 97.2141,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 1.5505,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 28.5847,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 331.5739,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 47448,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 32194,
"BSTAR": 0.00068746821,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00033601,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}