- Earth-watching satellite
- GEOSAT
- NORAD 15595
- 1985-021A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Southern Ocean
Orbit ends over the Southern Ocean
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches Geosat 1 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 Geosat 1, 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 it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is Geosat 1?
At 6:44:52 PM UTC Geosat 1 was over the Indian Ocean (3° S, 54.2° E), 762 km up, moving at 7.47 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is Geosat 1?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Mar 13, 1985.
Can I see Geosat 1?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Geosat 1, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- USN Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- JHU-Applied Physics Lab
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 636 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
- 6:44 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:44 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 3° S, 54.2° E
- Altitude
- 762 km
- Speed
- 7.47 km/s (26,903 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 7:05 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 108°
- Orbital period
- 100 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.4
- This orbit
- 755 to 758 km
- In shadow
- 34 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,050 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 3:45 AM, 14 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:45 AM, 14 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Geosat 1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Geosat 1 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
Geosat 1 shares its launch, 1985-021, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| ATLAS 41E R/B | Rocket body |
| ATLAS 41E DEB | Debris |
| ATLAS 41E 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geosat 1 | 755 to 758 km | 100 minutes | 636 kg | 1985 |
| Envisat | 761 to 762 km | 100 minutes | about 8.1 t | 2002 |
| NISAR | 749 to 751 km | 100 minutes | about 2.4 t | 2025 |
| Sentinel-2A | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2015 |
| Sentinel-2B | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2017 |
| Sentinel-2C | 788 to 790 km | 101 minutes | about 1.1 t | 2024 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 3:45 AM, 14 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "GEOSAT",
"OBJECT_ID": "1985-021A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:45:27.099360",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.40023604,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00022576,
"INCLINATION": 108.0409,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 21.0764,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 250.8994,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 109.1904,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 15595,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 18349,
"BSTAR": 0.000093033456,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000158,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}