OBJECT A

OBJECT A (NORAD ID 69474) is a space object catalogued under China, launched on 2026-06-11 from Wenchang, China on the TJS 25 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 224 km and 45,755 km with an inclination of 16.5°. It travels at approximately 13,264 km/h (3.68 km/s), completing one full orbit every 13 hours 55 minutes — that’s roughly 1.73 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7754 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks OBJECT A in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

OBJECT A follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 224 km (perigee) and 45,755 km (apogee). It spends most of its 13 hours 55 minutes orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. Within ±50 km of OBJECT A’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 3 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 16.5°, OBJECT A passes over latitudes between 16.5°N and 16.5°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. China operates approximately 1,218 active satellites in total.