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EXPRESS-MD2 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 38745)
Track EXPRESS-MD2 (NORAD catalog number 38745) 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 is object B of 2012's 44th orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2012-044B). As of this element set it had completed roughly 57,103 revolutions of Earth.
Its speed swings from 6.10 km/s at apogee to 8.33 km/s at perigee. EXPRESS-MD2 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 264 × 2,686 km, completing one revolution every 115.3 minutes — about 12.5 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is strongly elliptical (eccentricity 0.1543): each revolution swings from 264 km at perigee out to 2,686 km at apogee. Inclined 49.8° to the equator, it overflies every latitude up to about 50° north and south. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 157.7°. Earth's equatorial bulge drifts that plane westward about 3.27° per day.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~264 km × 2,686 km |
| Inclination | 49.82° |
| Orbital period | 115.3 min (12.49 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.15432 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2012-044B |
| NORAD catalog number | 38745 |
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
EXPRESS-MD2 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 EXPRESS-MD2 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, EXPRESS-MD2 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 EXPRESS-MD2 in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- HYLAS 2 (NORAD 38741)
- INTELSAT 21 (IS-21) (NORAD 38749)
- INTELSAT 20 (IS-20) (NORAD 38740)
- GONETS-M 4 (NORAD 38736)
- SPOT 6 (NORAD 38755)
- GONETS-M 3 (NORAD 38734)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe