Kuiper-00488

LIVE
See on the map

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/68879

  • Communications satellite
  • KUIPER-00488
  • NORAD 68879
  • 2026-095R
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kuiper-00488 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Caspian Sea

Orbit ends over Romania

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kuiper-00488 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 Kuiper-00488, 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 Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is Kuiper-00488?

At 6:41:37 PM UTC Kuiper-00488 was over the Pacific Ocean (51.8° S, 109.9° W), 648 km up, moving at 7.53 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kuiper-00488?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 28, 2026.

Can I see Kuiper-00488?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kuiper-00488, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Kuiper Systems LLC
State
United States of America
Built by
Kuiper Systems LLC
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
490 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
6:41 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:41 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
51.8° S, 109.9° W
Altitude
648 km
Speed
7.53 km/s (27,122 km/h)
Course
east
Light
In sunlight until 7:14 PM UTC
Inclination
51.9°
Orbital period
97.3 minutes
Orbits per day
14.8
This orbit
630 to 630 km
In shadow
32 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,850 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 7:46 AM, 10 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:46 AM, 10 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kuiper-00488, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kuiper-00488 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

Kuiper-00488 shares its launch, 2026-095, with 28 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
KUIPER-00299Communications satellite
KUIPER-00353Communications satellite
KUIPER-00357Communications satellite
KUIPER-00364Communications satellite
KUIPER-00375Communications satellite
KUIPER-00433Communications satellite
KUIPER-00437Communications satellite
KUIPER-00448Communications satellite
KUIPER-00459Communications satellite
KUIPER-00468Communications satellite
KUIPER-00476Communications satellite
KUIPER-00478Communications satellite
KUIPER-00480Communications satellite
KUIPER-00482Communications satellite
KUIPER-00483Communications satellite
KUIPER-00489Communications satellite
KUIPER-00499Communications satellite
KUIPER-00500Communications satellite
KUIPER-00502Communications satellite
KUIPER-00503Communications satellite
KUIPER-00504Communications satellite
KUIPER-00505Communications satellite
KUIPER-00507Communications satellite
KUIPER-00511Communications satellite
KUIPER-00512Communications satellite
KUIPER-00519Communications satellite
KUIPER-00521Communications satellite
KUIPER-00524Communications 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
Kuiper-00488630 to 630 km97 minutes490 kg2026
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, 7:46 AM, 10 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "KUIPER-00488",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2026-095R",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:46:34.468320",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.79935499,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00006467,
  "INCLINATION": 51.8998,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 318.2954,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 59.7994,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 300.3032,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 68879,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 2916,
  "BSTAR": 0.00016491579,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00001036,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}