- Communications satellite
- INSAT 1A
- NORAD 13129
- 1982-031A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Malaysia
Orbit ends over Malaysia
In view from you
Nobody watches Insat 1A 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 Insat 1A, 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 Malaysia LIVE
Where is Insat 1A?
At 5:35:44 PM UTC Insat 1A was over Malaysia (5.1° N, 117.9° E), 35,795 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Insat 1A?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Apr 10, 1982.
Can I see Insat 1A?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Insat 1A, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Indian Space Research Organization
- State
- India, Republic of
- Built by
- Ford Aerospace, Palo Alto
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.1 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:35 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:35 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 5.1° N, 117.9° E
- Altitude
- 35,795 km
- Speed
- 3.07 km/s (11,066 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 6.8°
- Orbital period
- 1,436.5 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1
- This orbit
- 35,751 to 35,840 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,940 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 5, 2026, 9:56 PM, 2 days old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 5, 2026, 9:56 PM, 2 days old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Insat 1A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Insat 1A 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insat 1A | 35,751 to 35,840 km | 1,437 minutes | about 1.1 t | 1982 |
| 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 5, 2026, 9:56 PM, 2 days old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "INSAT 1A",
"OBJECT_ID": "1982-031A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-05T21:56:36.109248",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.0024409,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.0010591,
"INCLINATION": 6.8191,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 297.4248,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 40.2812,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 154.4663,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 13129,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 16785,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000378,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}