Aussat K1

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/15993

  • Communications satellite
  • OPTUS A1 (AUSSAT 1)
  • NORAD 15993
  • 1985-076B
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where Aussat K1 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 Aussat K1 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 Aussat K1, 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 Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is Aussat K1?

At 6:21:30 PM UTC Aussat K1 was over the Pacific Ocean (8° S, 128.5° W), 35,940 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Aussat K1?

A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Aug 27, 1985.

Can I see Aussat K1?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Aussat K1, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Aussat Pty, Australia
State
Australia, Commonwealth of
Built by
Hughes Space and Comms. Co (Hughes Satellite Systems)
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
566 kg
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
6:21 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:21 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
8° S, 128.5° W
Altitude
35,940 km
Speed
3.07 km/s (11,048 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 7:53 AM UTC
Inclination
13.2°
Orbital period
1,443.5 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,916 to 35,948 km
In shadow
59 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 7,950 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 5:36 AM, 12 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:36 AM, 12 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Aussat K1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Aussat K1 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Aussat K1 shares its launch, 1985-076, with 5 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
ASC 1Communications satellite
LEASAT 4Communications satellite
OPTUS A1 R/B(PAM-D)Rocket body
LEASAT 4 PKMRocket body
ASC 1 R/B(PAM-D)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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Aussat K135,916 to 35,948 km1,444 minutes566 kg1985
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
Hotbird 13F35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.5 t2022

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:36 AM, 12 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "OPTUS A1 (AUSSAT 1)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1985-076B",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:36:05.849856",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.99758024,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00037775,
  "INCLINATION": 13.1708,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 337.8201,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 336.012,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 50.9096,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 15993,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 12103,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 6.3e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}