MethaneSat

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/59101

  • Earth-watching satellite
  • METHANESAT
  • NORAD 59101
  • 2024-043D
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where MethaneSat is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Southern Ocean

Orbit ends over the Southern Ocean

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches MethaneSat 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 MethaneSat, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is MethaneSat?

At 6:20:40 PM UTC MethaneSat was over the Indian Ocean (44.5° S, 129.4° E), 586 km up, moving at 7.57 km/s and in sunlight.

What is MethaneSat?

A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Mar 4, 2024.

Can I see MethaneSat?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for MethaneSat, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.

General

Operator
MethaneSAT LLC (EDF)
State
United States of America
Built by
Raytheon Intelligence and Space/Blue Canyon
What it is
Earth-watching satellite
Launched
Mass
362 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
6:20 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:20 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
44.5° S, 129.4° E
Altitude
586 km
Speed
7.57 km/s (27,241 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 6:23 PM UTC
Inclination
97.9°
Orbital period
96.1 minutes
Orbits per day
14.99
This orbit
561 to 575 km
In shadow
32 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,740 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 2:31 AM, 15 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:31 AM, 15 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to MethaneSat 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

MethaneSat shares its launch, 2024-043, with 33 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
HORACIOEarth-watching satellite
MUSAT2Earth-watching satellite
ICEYE-X38Earth-watching satellite
ICEYE-X37Earth-watching satellite
ICEYE-X36Earth-watching satellite
PE2_FLT2 (TYVAK-0262)Satellite
PE2_FLT1 (TYVAK-0261)Satellite
RROCI-2Earth-watching satellite
BRO-13Satellite
BRO-12Satellite
SONATE-2Satellite
CONTECSAT-1Earth-watching satellite
TIGER-8Communications satellite
LYNK TOWER 5Communications satellite
NUSAT-44 MARIA MITCHELLEarth-watching satellite
LYNK TOWER 6Communications satellite
VSP ROSEEarth-watching satellite
OBJECT ADSatellite
YAM-6Satellite
JACKAL-01Satellite
OBJECT AGSatellite
APEX ARIES 1Satellite
GHOST-5Earth-watching satellite
MESON-1Satellite
LIZZIESATSatellite
GHOST-4Earth-watching satellite
JACKAL-02Satellite
VSP RF A1Satellite
VSP RF C1Satellite
VSP RF B1Satellite
TIGER-7Communications satellite
LEMUR 2 JOHNNYTRUONGCommunications satellite
HAMMEREarth-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
MethaneSat561 to 575 km96 minutes362 kg2024
WorldView-3612 to 615 km97 minutesabout 2.8 t2014
SAOCOM 1A622 to 624 km97 minutesabout 3 t2018
PAZ507 to 510 km95 minutesabout 1.4 t2018
ALOS-2630 to 632 km97 minutesabout 2.1 t2014
SMAP681 to 683 km98 minutes944 kg2015

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:31 AM, 15 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "METHANESAT",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2024-043D",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:31:11.518752",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.98629296,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00095896,
  "INCLINATION": 97.8634,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 84.0923,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 243.9657,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 116.0578,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 59101,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 14620,
  "BSTAR": 0.00023439269,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00002754,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}