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AEROCUBE 6B — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 40046)
Track AEROCUBE 6B (NORAD catalog number 40046) 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 AN of 2014's 33rd orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2014-033AN). It went up together with 21 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 65,906 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.61 km/s, AEROCUBE 6B flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 544 × 602 km, completing one revolution every 96.0 minutes — about 15.0 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0041). Its 97.7° 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 56.4°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 1.00° 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 | ~544 km × 602 km |
| Inclination | 97.73° |
| Orbital period | 96.0 min (15.00 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00412 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2014-033AN |
| NORAD catalog number | 40046 |
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
AEROCUBE 6B 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 AEROCUBE 6B from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, AEROCUBE 6B 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 AEROCUBE 6B in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- AEROCUBE 6A (NORAD 40045)
- LEMUR-1 (NORAD 40044)
- TIGRISAT (NORAD 40043)
- POLYITAN-1 (NORAD 40042)
- PERSEUS-M1 (NORAD 40039)
- SPOT 7 (NORAD 40053)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe