- Communications satellite
- ARABSAT 1A
- NORAD 15560
- 1985-015A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Angola
Orbit ends over Angola
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Arabsat 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 Arabsat 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 the Republic of the Congo LIVE
Where is Arabsat 1A?
At 6:31:58 PM UTC Arabsat 1A was over the Republic of the Congo (2.5° N, 16.2° E), 35,895 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Arabsat 1A?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Feb 8, 1985.
Can I see Arabsat 1A?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Arabsat 1A, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Arabsat, Arab League
- State
- Arabsat
- Built by
- Aerospatiale-Cannes
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.2 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
- 6:31 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:31 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 2.5° N, 16.2° E
- Altitude
- 35,895 km
- Speed
- 3.07 km/s (11,041 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight until 10:15 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 11.7°
- Orbital period
- 1,437 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1
- This orbit
- 35,650 to 35,960 km
- In shadow
- 54 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,950 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:54 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:54 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Arabsat 1A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Arabsat 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.
Launched with
Arabsat 1A shares its launch, 1985-015, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| BRAZILSAT 1 | Communications satellite |
| ARIANE 3 R/B | 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabsat 1A | 35,650 to 35,960 km | 1,437 minutes | about 1.2 t | 1985 |
| 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 8, 2026, 5:54 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "ARABSAT 1A",
"OBJECT_ID": "1985-015A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:54:15.360768",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.00209436,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00367187,
"INCLINATION": 11.6722,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 330.3134,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 245.8992,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 296.0636,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 15560,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 12745,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 7.3e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}