Home›Maneuver Tracker›Close Approaches›PELICAN-12 ⟷ GRUS-3ALPHA
HighProximity
Final forecastFinal forecast, made minutes before the pass.
Closest approach11 Nov 202600:47 UTC
Relative speed14.45 km/sat the closest approach
Altitude592 kmlow Earth orbit
Last confirmed11 Nov00:46 UTC · final forecast

US PELICAN-12 and JP GRUS-3ALPHA were predicted to reach a closest approach of 4.00 km at 2026-11-11 00:47 UTC, at a relative speed of 14.45 km/s. Final forecast, made minutes before the pass. Miss distance and time of closest approach are computed by propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects, and each pass is re-checked every 20 minutes as new element sets are published. See the Satellite Maneuver Tracker for the live picture and space situational awareness for context.

Why it mattersBoth objects are catalogued as payloads. Screening continues as new element sets arrive; operators act on their own conjunction data.

The Two Objects

Dossiers from the satellite directory
PELICAN-12Payload
NORAD 101128
CountryUS
Launched2026-10-20
COSPAR2026-237T
Maneuver capableUnknown
NORAD 64579
CountryJPN
Launched2025-06-23
COSPAR2025-135BD
Maneuver capableUnknown

Where This Happens

Altitude context
DEBRIS BELT 700–1000 KM2006001,0001,5002,000 kmTHIS PASS · 592 KMISS 420Starlink 550

At 592 km this pass sits in low Earth orbit. Objects here stay up for decades: there is too little atmospheric drag to clean the band naturally. Why crowded bands matter →

History Between This Pair

2 predicted passes under 10 km
Pair history · PELICAN-12 ⟷ GRUS-3ALPHA
2026-11-11 00:474.00 km Final forecast14.45 km/s592 kmShown above
2026-11-10 23:592.30 km Final forecast14.47 km/s585 kmView →

Repeat encounters are common for objects in near-intersecting orbital planes. Each pass is re-screened as fresh element sets arrive; "Final forecast" means the screening still predicted it within 45 minutes of its time, "Not re-confirmed" means later screening stopped finding it.

Forecast Record

Every figure published for the pass shown above, newest first. Nothing is overwritten: a withdrawn forecast keeps its figure, with the newer check beside it, and the best estimate after the pass is a row of its own.
Computed · figure · predicted time · orbit data · by
10 Nov 20:46 UTC4.00 km Forecast11 Nov 00:47 UTC10 Nov 16:45 UTCRe-check
10 Nov 14:28 UTC3.98 km Forecast11 Nov 00:47 UTC10 Nov 11:05 UTCRe-check
10 Nov 09:32 UTC4.22 km Forecast11 Nov 00:47 UTC10 Nov 04:44 UTCRe-check
10 Nov 03:51 UTC5.21 km Forecast11 Nov 00:47 UTC10 Nov 00:26 UTCRe-check
10 Nov 01:11 UTC3.99 km Forecast11 Nov 00:47 UTC9 Nov 16:45 UTCRe-check
10 Nov 00:51 UTC7.29 km Forecast11 Nov 00:47 UTC9 Nov 16:45 UTCScreen

These Objects Elsewhere

Other screened approaches · 7 days
244 m11-09 18:50 UTC
PELICAN-12TURKSAT 3U
744 m11-14 06:44 UTC
PELICAN-12SIRIUS-B
989 m11-10 19:05 UTC
CAPELLA-21 (ACADIA)PELICAN-12

How These Numbers Are Computed

Miss distance and TCA come from propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects and searching for the minimum separation over the screening window. Element sets carry kilometre-scale uncertainty, so figures here describe a close pass, not a collision prediction; a change in either object's published elements re-computes the pass automatically. What is a conjunction? → How conjunction assessment works →