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SOCRATES — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 39768)
Track SOCRATES (NORAD catalog number 39768) 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 C of 2014's 29th orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2014-029C). It went up together with 3 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 66,667 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.57 km/s, SOCRATES flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 584 × 595 km, completing one revolution every 96.3 minutes — about 15.0 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0007). Its 97.9° 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 4.4°. 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 | ~584 km × 595 km |
| Inclination | 97.91° |
| Orbital period | 96.3 min (14.95 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00074 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2014-029C |
| NORAD catalog number | 39768 |
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
SOCRATES 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 SOCRATES from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, SOCRATES 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 SOCRATES in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- UNIFORM 1 (NORAD 39767)
- RISING 2 (NORAD 39769)
- ALOS-2 (NORAD 39766)
- COSMOS 2498 (RODNIK-S *) (NORAD 39763)
- EUTELSAT 3B (NORAD 39773)
- COSMOS 2497 (RODNIK-S *) (NORAD 39762)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe