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STARLINK-38040 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 69717)
Track STARLINK-38040 (NORAD catalog number 69717) 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 P of 2026's 147th orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2026-147P). It went up together with 23 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 1,211 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.63 km/s, STARLINK-38040 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 472 × 474 km, completing one revolution every 93.9 minutes — about 15.3 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0001). Its 97.3° 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 286.2°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 0.99° 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 | ~472 km × 474 km |
| Inclination | 97.28° |
| Orbital period | 93.9 min (15.33 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00013 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-06 |
| COSPAR designation | 2026-147P |
| NORAD catalog number | 69717 |
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 Starlink group
STARLINK-38040 is one of 10,717 SpaceX Starlink broadband satellites in the current WatchSat catalog — the largest satellite constellation ever flown. Starlink operates in low-Earth-orbit shells around 540–570 km. See the whole Starlink constellation move live in 3D.
Can you see STARLINK-38040 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, STARLINK-38040 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. Newly launched batches are the exception — right after launch they can form a naked-eye Starlink train. Check the launch schedule for what just went up. See pass predictions for your location for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of STARLINK-38040 in the Starlink group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- STARLINK-38060 (NORAD 69716)
- STARLINK-37989 (NORAD 69718)
- STARLINK-38061 (NORAD 69715)
- STARLINK-38039 (NORAD 69719)
- STARLINK-38059 (NORAD 69714)
- STARLINK-38003 (NORAD 69720)
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