- Communications satellite
- NORAD 1293
- 1965-016F
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches OSCAR 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 OSCAR 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 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
- Close approach
On Sunday, Oct 25 at 9:14 PM UTC, a fragment of NOAA 16 (NORAD 41147) was to pass within 448 m of Oscar 3 (NORAD 1293). The chance was about 1 in 6,000.
Summary
Over Canada LIVE
Where is OSCAR 3?
At 6:31:57 PM UTC OSCAR 3 was over Canada (65.8° N, 114.7° W), 888 km up, moving at 7.41 km/s and in sunlight.
What is OSCAR 3?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Mar 9, 1965.
Can I see OSCAR 3?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for OSCAR 3, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Project OSCAR Inc.
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Project OSCAR Inc.
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 15 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
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
- 6:31 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:31 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 65.8° N, 114.7° W
- Altitude
- 888 km
- Speed
- 7.41 km/s (26,669 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In sunlight until 7:31 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 70.1°
- Orbital period
- 102.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.09
- This orbit
- 848 to 877 km
- In shadow
- 28 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,250 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 2:42 AM, 15 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:42 AM, 15 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for OSCAR 3, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to OSCAR 3 is reported for the next three 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.
Launched with
OSCAR 3 shares its launch, 1965-016, with 9 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SECOR 3 | Earth-watching satellite |
| GGSE 2 | Satellite |
| THOR AGENA D R/B | Rocket body |
| OPS 4988 (GREB 6) | Satellite |
| PORCUPINE 1 | Satellite |
| SOLRAD 7B | Satellite |
| GGSE 3 | Satellite |
| OPS 4988 DEB | Debris |
| GGSE 3 DEB | Debris |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OSCAR 3 | 848 to 877 km | 102 minutes | 15 kg | 1965 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| 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 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:42 AM, 15 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OSCAR 3",
"OBJECT_ID": "1965-016F",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:42:02.607552",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.08538768,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.0019822,
"INCLINATION": 70.0725,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 86.1955,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 309.4914,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 50.4446,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 1293,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 15235,
"BSTAR": 0.00025788735,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.0000039,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}