SPARCS

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/67386

  • Space telescope
  • OBJECT Z
  • NORAD 67386
  • 2026-004Z
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

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

Orbit began over the Mediterranean Sea

Orbit ends over Morocco

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches SPARCS 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 SPARCS, 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 far too faint for the naked eye, and catching it would take a telescope driven to follow a point crossing the sky in minutes. What is worth looking at is what it sends back.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Antarctica LIVE

Where is SPARCS?

At 4:40:51 PM UTC SPARCS was over Antarctica (78.6° S, 148.5° E), 630 km up, moving at 7.54 km/s and in sunlight.

What is SPARCS?

A space telescope in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 11, 2026.

Can I see SPARCS?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SPARCS, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is what it sees, which its operator publishes.

General

Operator
Arizona State University
State
United States of America
Built by
Blue Canyon Technologies
What it is
Space telescope
Launched
Mass
12 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
4:40 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
4:40 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
78.6° S, 148.5° E
Altitude
630 km
Speed
7.54 km/s (27,151 km/h)
Course
south-west
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
97.8°
Orbital period
96.7 minutes
Orbits per day
14.89
This orbit
595 to 600 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 1,820 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 5:50 AM, 10 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:50 AM, 10 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to SPARCS 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

SPARCS shares its launch, 2026-004, with 39 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
LEMUR-2 FIKRETDENGIZCommunications satellite
OBJECT BSatellite
LEMUR-2 MARIO-SOUSACommunications satellite
LEMUR-2 CALLUM-K-JCommunications satellite
LEMUR-2 SONNENBLUMECommunications satellite
LEMUR-2 WOBLERCommunications satellite
BLACKCATSpace telescope
LEMUR-2 GRAM-E-SUECommunications satellite
UMBRA-12Earth-watching satellite
ICEYE-X63Earth-watching satellite
ICEYE-X64Earth-watching satellite
AETHER-3Communications satellite
AETHER-4Communications satellite
AETHER-5Communications satellite
AETHER-6Communications satellite
AETHER-7Communications satellite
AETHER-8Communications satellite
AETHER-9Communications satellite
AETHER-10Communications satellite
AETHER-11Communications satellite
AETHER-12Communications satellite
CAPELLA-19 (ACADIA)Earth-watching satellite
CAPELLA-18 (ACADIA)Earth-watching satellite
LEMUR-2 KATIECommunications satellite
LEMUR-2 HCS-BAZUSCommunications satellite
HYDRA-2Earth-watching satellite
CONNECTA IOT-16Communications satellite
FLAMINGO-1Satellite
HAWK-13ASatellite
HAWK-13CSatellite
LEMUR-2 KUTAREarth-watching satellite
PANDORASpace telescope
HAWK-13BSatellite
CARBSAREarth-watching satellite
TOMORROW-S10Earth-watching satellite
TOMORROW-S11Earth-watching satellite
CONNECTA IOT-13Communications satellite
CONNECTA IOT-14Communications satellite
CONNECTA IOT-15Communications 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
SPARCS595 to 600 km97 minutes12 kg2026
Cheops679 to 694 km98 minutes280 kg2019
Fermi488 to 498 km94 minutesabout 4.3 t2008
Hubble465 to 480 km94 minutesabout 12.2 t1990
XMM-Newton29,443 to 91,682 km2,873 minutesabout 3.8 t1999
Chandra12,186 to 136,630 km3,809 minutesabout 4.8 t1999

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:50 AM, 10 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "OBJECT Z",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2026-004Z",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:50:02.791968",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.89218014,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00034141,
  "INCLINATION": 97.8075,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 308.9463,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 35.0115,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 325.1327,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 67386,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 4473,
  "BSTAR": 0.00014688204,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00001334,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}