Home › Other Active Satellites › AEROCUBE 16A
AEROCUBE 16A — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 59290)
Track AEROCUBE 16A (NORAD catalog number 59290) 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 2024's 53rd orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2024-053C). It went up together with 2 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 13,379 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.66 km/s, AEROCUBE 16A flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 433 × 438 km, completing one revolution every 93.1 minutes — about 15.5 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0003). Inclined 50.0° to the equator, it overflies every latitude up to about 50° north and south. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 266.7°. Earth's equatorial bulge drifts that plane westward about 5.10° per day.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~433 km × 438 km |
| Inclination | 49.99° |
| Orbital period | 93.1 min (15.46 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00035 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2024-053C |
| NORAD catalog number | 59290 |
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 16A 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 16A from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, AEROCUBE 16A 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 16A in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- MOLA (NORAD 59289)
- AEROCUBE 16B (NORAD 59291)
- YUNHAI-2 02F (NORAD 59285)
- YUNHAI-2 02E (NORAD 59284)
- YUNHAI-2 02D (NORAD 59283)
- YUNHAI-2 02C (NORAD 59282)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe