Kelpie-2

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/56996

  • Communications satellite
  • AAC-AIS-SAT2
  • NORAD 56996
  • 2023-084BY
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kelpie-2 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Coral Sea

Orbit ends over the Arafura Sea

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kelpie-2 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 Kelpie-2, 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 the Ross Sea LIVE

Where is Kelpie-2?

At 5:39:11 PM UTC Kelpie-2 was over the Ross Sea (75.7° S, 177.5° E), 622 km up, moving at 7.56 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kelpie-2?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jun 12, 2023.

Can I see Kelpie-2?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kelpie-2, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
AAC Microtec/Clyde Space Ltd.
State
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Built by
AAC Microtec/Clyde Space Ltd.
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
4 kg
Operating
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
5:39 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:39 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
75.7° S, 177.5° E
Altitude
622 km
Speed
7.56 km/s (27,198 km/h)
Course
north-west
Light
In sunlight until 5:54 PM UTC
Inclination
98.2°
Orbital period
96.9 minutes
Orbits per day
14.86
This orbit
568 to 646 km
In shadow
29 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,800 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 6:41 AM, 10 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:41 AM, 10 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kelpie-2, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kelpie-2 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

Kelpie-2 shares its launch, 2023-084, with 16 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
GEISAT PRECURSOREarth-watching satellite
NUSAT-41 (C PAYNE-G)Earth-watching satellite
GREGOIREEarth-watching satellite
BLACKJACK ACES-3Communications satellite
RUNNER-1 (TYVAK-1005)Earth-watching satellite
HOTSAT-1Earth-watching satellite
BLACKJACK ACES-2Communications satellite
BLACKJACK ACES-1Communications satellite
ION SCV-011Satellite
GHOST-3Earth-watching satellite
ORBITER SN3Satellite
ICEYE-X25Earth-watching satellite
AFR-1Earth-watching satellite
NUSAT-42 (M WONENBURGER)Earth-watching satellite
LEMUR 2 EMBRIONOVISEarth-watching satellite
AAC-HSI-SAT2Earth-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.

Beside the others

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Kelpie-2568 to 646 km97 minutes4 kg2023
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, 6:41 AM, 10 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "AAC-AIS-SAT2",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2023-084BY",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:41:21.795936",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.86115815,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00558744,
  "INCLINATION": 98.1679,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 95.7838,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 350.5542,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 9.4617,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 56996,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 17477,
  "BSTAR": 0.00040224203,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00003565,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}