- Earth-watching satellite
- SDGSAT 1
- NORAD 49387
- 2021-100A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Canada
Orbit ends over Canada
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches SDGSAT-1 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 SDGSAT-1, 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 Finland LIVE
Where is SDGSAT-1?
At 5:36:31 PM UTC SDGSAT-1 was over Finland (67.9° N, 23.9° E), 514 km up, moving at 7.62 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is SDGSAT-1?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Nov 5, 2021.
Can I see SDGSAT-1?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SDGSAT-1, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- State
- China, People's Republic of
- Built by
- Institute of Microsatellite Innovation, CAS
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 500 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
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 67.9° N, 23.9° E
- Altitude
- 514 km
- Speed
- 7.62 km/s (27,418 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 5:37 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 97.2°
- Orbital period
- 94.8 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 15.2
- This orbit
- 496 to 511 km
- In shadow
- 29 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,590 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:49 AM, 9 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:49 AM, 9 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for SDGSAT-1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to SDGSAT-1 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDGSAT-1 | 496 to 511 km | 95 minutes | 500 kg | 2021 |
| PAZ | 507 to 510 km | 95 minutes | about 1.4 t | 2018 |
| WorldView-3 | 612 to 615 km | 97 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2014 |
| 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 |
| SMAP | 681 to 683 km | 98 minutes | 944 kg | 2015 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 7:49 AM, 9 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "SDGSAT 1",
"OBJECT_ID": "2021-100A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:49:30.022752",
"MEAN_MOTION": 15.19693054,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00108271,
"INCLINATION": 97.247,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 353.6751,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 121.3261,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 238.9036,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 49387,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 27780,
"BSTAR": 0.0002042944,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00004302,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}