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GAOFEN-8 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 40701)
Track GAOFEN-8 (NORAD catalog number 40701) 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 2015, launched on the 30th orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2015-030A). As of this element set it had completed roughly 62,414 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.66 km/s, GAOFEN-8 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 423 × 432 km, completing one revolution every 93.0 minutes — about 15.5 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0007). 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 88.7°. Earth's equatorial bulge drifts that plane eastward about 1.07° per day.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~423 km × 432 km |
| Inclination | 97.69° |
| Orbital period | 93.0 min (15.49 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00066 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2015-030A |
| NORAD catalog number | 40701 |
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
GAOFEN-8 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 GAOFEN-8 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, GAOFEN-8 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 GAOFEN-8 in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- COSMOS 2506 (NORAD 40699)
- SENTINEL-2A (NORAD 40697)
- DMC3-FM1 (NORAD 40715)
- DMC3-FM2 (NORAD 40716)
- DMC3-FM3 (NORAD 40717)
- CARBONITE 1 (CBNT-1) (NORAD 40718)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe