- Earth-watching satellite
- ESSA 1 (OT-3)
- NORAD 1982
- 1966-008A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Chad
Orbit ends over Mali
In view from you
Nobody watches ESSA 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 ESSA 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
- Close approach
On Saturday, Oct 24 at 12:04 PM UTC, a fragment of Cosmos 1275 (NORAD 13807) was to pass within 937 m of ESSA 1 (OT-3) (NORAD 1982). The chance was about 1 in 10,000.
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is ESSA 1?
At 6:44:55 PM UTC ESSA 1 was over the Atlantic Ocean (55.9° S, 16.2° E), 737 km up, moving at 7.49 km/s and in sunlight.
What is ESSA 1?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Feb 3, 1966.
Can I see ESSA 1?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for ESSA 1, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Environmental Science Services Administration
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- RCA Astro Electronics (Astro Space)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 138 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
- 55.9° S, 16.2° E
- Altitude
- 737 km
- Speed
- 7.49 km/s (26,978 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 97.8°
- Orbital period
- 99.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.48
- This orbit
- 671 to 785 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,000 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 12:46 AM, 16 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:46 AM, 17 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for ESSA 1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to ESSA 1 is reported for the next three 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
ESSA 1 shares its launch, 1966-008, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| DELTA 1 R/B | Rocket body |
| DELTA 1 DEB | Debris |
| DELTA 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESSA 1 | 671 to 785 km | 99 minutes | 138 kg | 1966 |
| NISAR | 749 to 751 km | 100 minutes | about 2.4 t | 2025 |
| Landsat 9 | 702 to 704 km | 99 minutes | about 2.7 t | 2021 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
| Sentinel-1C | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2024 |
| Sentinel-1D | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2025 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 12:46 AM, 16 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "ESSA 1 (OT-3)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1966-008A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:46:07.684032",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.48386031,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00801365,
"INCLINATION": 97.8003,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 333.0988,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 20.1326,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 340.2999,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 1982,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 17876,
"BSTAR": 0.000062655899,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000202,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}