Radio RS-5

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/12999

  • Communications satellite
  • RADIO 5
  • NORAD 12999
  • 1981-120C
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Radio RS-5 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

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Radio RS-5 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 Radio RS-5, 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 Arctic Ocean LIVE

Where is Radio RS-5?

At 7:49:44 AM UTC Radio RS-5 was over the Arctic Ocean (82.7° N, 52.5° W), 1,666 km up, moving at 7.05 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Radio RS-5?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 17, 1981.

Can I see Radio RS-5?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Radio RS-5, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
NPO Applied Mechanics
State
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Built by
NPO Applied Mechanics
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
70 kg
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
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
7:49 AM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:49 AM UTC
Latitude / longitude
82.7° N, 52.5° W
Altitude
1,666 km
Speed
7.05 km/s (25,376 km/h)
Course
east
Light
In sunlight until 9:12 AM UTC
Inclination
83°
Orbital period
119.5 minutes
Orbits per day
12.05
This orbit
1,643 to 1,666 km
In shadow
29 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 3,190 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 3:35 AM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:35 AM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Radio RS-5, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Radio RS-5 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 2:43 PM, 9 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

Radio RS-5 shares its launch, 1981-120, with 18 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
RADIO 3Communications satellite
RADIO 8Communications satellite
RADIO 4Communications satellite
RADIO 7Communications satellite
RADIO 6Communications satellite
SL-8 R/BRocket body
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris
SL-8 DEBDebris

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
Radio RS-51,643 to 1,666 km119 minutes70 kg1981
BlueWalker 3443 to 453 km94 minutesabout 1.5 t2022
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

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 3:35 AM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "RADIO 5",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1981-120C",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:35:02.084352",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 12.05315432,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00148534,
  "INCLINATION": 82.9651,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 7.169,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 25.4463,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 2.2877,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 12999,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 97492,
  "BSTAR": -0.00076172239,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -5.6e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}