- Communications satellite
- Military
- MANDRAKE 2 ABLE
- NORAD 48907
- 2021-059AE
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Egypt
Orbit ends over Algeria
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches Mandrake 2A 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 Mandrake 2A, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Democratic Republic of the Congo LIVE
Where is Mandrake 2A?
At 5:33:45 PM UTC Mandrake 2A was over the Democratic Republic of the Congo (0.1° N, 22.8° E), 385 km up, moving at 7.68 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is Mandrake 2A?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jun 30, 2021.
Can I see Mandrake 2A?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Mandrake 2A, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Space Development Agency
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Astro Digital
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 23 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, 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
- 5:33 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:33 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 0.1° N, 22.8° E
- Altitude
- 385 km
- Speed
- 7.68 km/s (27,648 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 5:33 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 97.7°
- Orbital period
- 92.3 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 15.61
- This orbit
- 379 to 385 km
- In shadow
- 26 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,310 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 8:29 AM, 1 day old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 8:29 AM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Mandrake 2A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Mandrake 2A 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
Mandrake 2A shares its launch, 2021-059, with 9 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| STARLINK-3005 | Communications satellite |
| TYVAK-0173 | Satellite |
| MANDRAKE 2 BAKER | Communications satellite |
| YAM-3 | Satellite |
| HAWK-3B | Satellite |
| HAWK-3C | Satellite |
| DEMO8(TENZING) | Satellite |
| HAWK-3A | Satellite |
| SHERPA-FX2/TAGSAT-2 | 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandrake 2A | 379 to 385 km | 92 minutes | 23 kg | 2021 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 8:29 AM, 1 day old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "MANDRAKE 2 ABLE",
"OBJECT_ID": "2021-059AE",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T08:29:10.288320",
"MEAN_MOTION": 15.60921047,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00042794,
"INCLINATION": 97.6909,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 152.6542,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 161.6725,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 198.4687,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 48907,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 29941,
"BSTAR": 0.00042962834,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00035939,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}