Home › Navigation › BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5
BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 37948)
Track BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 (NORAD catalog number 37948) 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 2011, launched on the 73rd orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2011-073A). As of this element set it had completed roughly 5,395 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 3.11 km/s, BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 flies a geosynchronous orbit roughly 35,786 km up: its 23.9-hour period matches Earth's rotation, but at 47.5° inclination it is not geostationary — seen from the ground it traces a daily figure-eight around a fixed longitude, swinging about 48° north and south of the equator. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0117). Inclined 47.5° to the equator, it overflies every latitude up to about 48° north and south. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 270.5°.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~35,299 km × 36,284 km |
| Inclination | 47.53° |
| Orbital period | 1436.0 min (1.00 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.01168 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-06 |
| COSPAR designation | 2011-073A |
| NORAD catalog number | 37948 |
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 Navigation group
BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 is part of China's BeiDou fleet — one of 173 global-navigation satellites in the WatchSat catalog across GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou. GNSS spacecraft broadcast precise time signals from orbits around 20,000 km up; a phone fixes its position by comparing several of them at once. See the whole navigation group live in 3D.
Can you see BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 from the ground?
Not with the naked eye. At its altitude BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 is far beyond unaided visibility — following satellites this high takes a telescope and good timing. You can still track it precisely in the live 3D view above, or check pass predictions for your location.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of BEIDOU-2 IGSO-5 in the Navigation group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- COSMOS 2475 [GLONASS-M] (NORAD 37869)
- COSMOS 2477 [GLONASS-M] (NORAD 37868)
- COSMOS 2476 [GLONASS-M] (NORAD 37867)
- GSAT0102 (GALILEO-FM2) (NORAD 37847)
- GSAT0101 (GALILEO-PFM) (NORAD 37846)
- BEIDOU-2 G5 (NORAD 38091)
Browse the Navigation directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe