- Communications satellite
- Military
- RADUGA 7
- NORAD 12003
- 1980-081A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Raduga go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
No brightness has been published for Raduga, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. What reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is Raduga?
At 10:23:11 AM UTC Raduga was over the Atlantic Ocean (5.3° S, 25.6° W), 35,768 km up, moving at 3.08 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Raduga?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Oct 5, 1980.
Can I see Raduga?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Raduga, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Main Space Forces Directorate
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- NPO Applied Mechanics
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 2 t
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Inclined geosynchronous
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 10:23 AM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 10:23 AM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 5.3° S, 25.6° W
- Altitude
- 35,768 km
- Speed
- 3.08 km/s (11,074 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 5.6°
- Orbital period
- 1,436.1 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1
- This orbit
- 35,733 to 35,842 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,940 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:23 PM, 14 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:23 PM, 14 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Raduga, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Raduga has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 9, 2026, 5:39 AM, 2 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Launched with
Raduga shares its launch, 1980-081, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-12 R/B(2) | Rocket body |
Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raduga | 35,733 to 35,842 km | 1,436 minutes | about 2 t | 1980 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
| Hotbird 13F | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.5 t | 2022 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 7:23 PM, 14 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "RADUGA 7",
"OBJECT_ID": "1980-081A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T19:23:35.309184",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.00273608,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00129089,
"INCLINATION": 5.6038,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 287.9701,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 321.2672,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 64.3466,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 12003,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 12476,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000189,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}