SMILE

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/69123

  • NORAD 69123
  • 2026-109A
  • Highly elliptical orbit

Current orbit

Where SMILE 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

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches SMILE 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 SMILE, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

In the news

All news

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is SMILE?

At 5:39:00 PM UTC SMILE was over the Indian Ocean (6.2° S, 75.4° E), 21,337 km up, moving at 4.8 km/s and in sunlight.

What is SMILE?

A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since May 19, 2026.

Can I see SMILE?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for SMILE, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
Chinese Academy of Sciences
State
China, People's Republic of
Built by
Institute of Microsatellite Innovation, CAS
Launched
Mass
about 2.3 t
Operating
Yes
Orbit class
Highly elliptical orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, 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
6.2° S, 75.4° E
Altitude
21,337 km
Speed
4.8 km/s (17,273 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
70°
Orbital period
3,031.1 minutes
Orbits per day
0.48
This orbit
7,066 to 118,933 km
In view from
Within 7,440 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 4, 2026, 3:05 PM, 4 days old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 4, 2026, 3:05 PM, 4 days old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to SMILE 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.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 4, 2026, 3:05 PM, 4 days old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "SMILE",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2026-109A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-04T15:05:07.687680",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.47507837,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.8062151,
  "INCLINATION": 69.9594,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 206.1015,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 284.7174,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 6.5299,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 69123,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 61,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000726,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}