- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- GAOFEN 12 (02)
- NORAD 48079
- 2021-026A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Bering Sea
Orbit ends over the Shelikhov Gulf
In view from you
Nobody watches Gao Fen 12-02 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 Gao Fen 12-02, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Tasman Sea LIVE
Where is Gao Fen 12-02?
At 6:45:49 PM UTC Gao Fen 12-02 was over the Tasman Sea (44.2° S, 153.2° E), 646 km up, moving at 7.53 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Gao Fen 12-02?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Mar 30, 2021.
Can I see Gao Fen 12-02?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Gao Fen 12-02, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Strategic Support Troops
- State
- China, People's Republic of
- Built by
- Shanghai Academy of Space Technology (CASC 8th Acad)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 3 t
- 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, that a defence organisation flies it, 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
- 44.2° S, 153.2° E
- Altitude
- 646 km
- Speed
- 7.53 km/s (27,119 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 98°
- Orbital period
- 97.3 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.8
- This orbit
- 621 to 629 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,850 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 8:01 AM, 10 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 8:01 AM, 10 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Gao Fen 12-02, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Gao Fen 12-02 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
Gao Fen 12-02 shares its launch, 2021-026, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| CZ-4C 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gao Fen 12-02 | 621 to 629 km | 97 minutes | about 3 t | 2021 |
| SAOCOM 1A | 622 to 624 km | 97 minutes | about 3 t | 2018 |
| ALOS-2 | 630 to 632 km | 97 minutes | about 2.1 t | 2014 |
| WorldView-3 | 612 to 615 km | 97 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2014 |
| SMAP | 681 to 683 km | 98 minutes | 944 kg | 2015 |
| Aqua | 685 to 687 km | 98 minutes | about 2.9 t | 2002 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 8:01 AM, 10 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "GAOFEN 12 (02)",
"OBJECT_ID": "2021-026A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T08:01:12.764928",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.80388827,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.0005951,
"INCLINATION": 98.0011,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 310.0061,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 119.9714,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 240.2089,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 48079,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 30308,
"BSTAR": 0.000067278268,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000461,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}