Comstar 204

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/12309

  • Communications satellite
  • ESIAFI 1 (COMSTAR 4)
  • NORAD 12309
  • 1981-018A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where Comstar 204 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Laccadive Sea

Orbit ends over the Laccadive Sea

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Comstar 204 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 Comstar 204, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Laccadive Sea LIVE

Where is Comstar 204?

At 6:46:14 PM UTC Comstar 204 was over the Laccadive Sea (8.4° N, 73.2° E), 35,778 km up, moving at 3.08 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Comstar 204?

A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Feb 21, 1981.

Can I see Comstar 204?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Comstar 204, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Comsat General Corp., Washington D.C.
State
United States of America
Built by
Hughes Space and Comms. Co (Hughes Satellite Systems)
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
748 kg
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
6:46 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:46 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
8.4° N, 73.2° E
Altitude
35,778 km
Speed
3.08 km/s (11,070 km/h)
Course
south-east
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 7:00 PM UTC
Inclination
8.4°
Orbital period
1,435.9 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,775 to 35,793 km
In shadow
21 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 7,940 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 12:41 PM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 12:41 PM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Comstar 204, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Comstar 204 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

Comstar 204 shares its launch, 1981-018, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
ATLAS CENTAUR R/BRocket 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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Comstar 20435,775 to 35,793 km1,436 minutes748 kg1981
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011
Hotbird 13F35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.5 t2022

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 12:41 PM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "ESIAFI 1 (COMSTAR 4)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1981-018A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T12:41:42.487008",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 1.00285016,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0002207,
  "INCLINATION": 8.4317,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 310.3653,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 28.7979,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 331.0997,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 12309,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 16888,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -9e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}