Kiku-3

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/12295

  • KIKU 3 (ETS 4)
  • NORAD 12295
  • 1981-012A
  • Highly elliptical orbit

Current orbit

Where Kiku-3 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kiku-3 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 Kiku-3, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is Kiku-3?

At 6:19:40 PM UTC Kiku-3 was over the Indian Ocean (27.7° S, 42.1° E), 11,780 km up, moving at 3.51 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kiku-3?

A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Feb 11, 1981.

Can I see Kiku-3?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kiku-3, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
National Space Development Adminstration
State
Japan (Nippon), State of
Built by
Mitsubishi Electric Co.
Launched
Mass
650 kg
Operating
Orbit class
Highly elliptical orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
6:19 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:19 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
27.7° S, 42.1° E
Altitude
11,780 km
Speed
3.51 km/s (12,625 km/h)
Course
east
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
28.4°
Orbital period
234.7 minutes
Orbits per day
6.13
This orbit
308 to 12,154 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 6,650 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 4:03 AM, 14 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 4:03 AM, 14 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kiku-3, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kiku-3 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Kiku-3 shares its launch, 1981-012, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
N-2 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.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 4:03 AM, 14 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "KIKU 3 (ETS 4)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1981-012A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T04:03:18.253728",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 6.13419236,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.46972387,
  "INCLINATION": 28.4084,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 109.632,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 64.0165,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 336.6001,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 12295,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 65001,
  "BSTAR": 0.0015135203,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00010233,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}