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BEIJING 1 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 28890)
Track BEIJING 1 (NORAD catalog number 28890) live on the WatchSat interactive 3D globe above. Its position is propagated in real time from the latest CelesTrak two-line element set using the SGP4/SDP4 orbital model — the same math professional trackers run. It has been on orbit since 2005, launched on the 43rd orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2005-043A). It went up together with 2 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog.
Moving at about 7.53 km/s, BEIJING 1 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 678 × 700 km, completing one revolution every 98.4 minutes — about 14.6 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0015). Its 98.3° retrograde, near-polar inclination is characteristic of a Sun-synchronous orbit — the type Earth-imaging and weather satellites use to revisit each spot at the same local solar time. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 24.1°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 1.01° per day, matching the Sun's apparent motion — which is what holds its lighting constant.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~678 km × 700 km |
| Inclination | 98.30° |
| Orbital period | 98.4 min (14.64 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00153 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2005-043A |
| NORAD catalog number | 28890 |
This page's orbital elements come from the CelesTrak catalog of 2026-09-08. The live 3D view above fetches its own current CelesTrak data when the page opens, through an edge cache that refreshes roughly every 30 minutes.
About the Other Active Satellites group
BEIJING 1 is one of 4,471 active satellites in WatchSat's general catalog — the broad population of Earth-observation, communications, science, amateur-radio and technology spacecraft outside the giant broadband constellations. Browse all other active satellites live in 3D.
Can you see BEIJING 1 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, BEIJING 1 is visible only around dawn and dusk, when your sky is dark but the satellite is still sunlit — and whether you can spot it depends on its size and reflectivity. See pass predictions for your location for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of BEIJING 1 in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- SINAH 1 (NORAD 28893)
- SYRACUSE 3A (NORAD 28885)
- CUBESAT XI-V (NORAD 28895)
- INMARSAT 4-F2 (NORAD 28899)
- COSMOS 2416 (RODNIK-S 1) (NORAD 28908)
- ANIK F1R (NORAD 28868)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe