- Communications satellite
- Military
- FLTSATCOM 8 (USA 46)
- NORAD 20253
- 1989-077A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Timor Sea
Orbit ends over the Timor Sea
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches FLTSATCOM F8 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 FLTSATCOM F8, 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 Philippine Sea LIVE
Where is FLTSATCOM F8?
At 6:20:31 PM UTC FLTSATCOM F8 was over the Philippine Sea (12.3° N, 125.8° E), 35,812 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.
What is FLTSATCOM F8?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Sep 25, 1989.
Can I see FLTSATCOM F8?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for FLTSATCOM F8, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Space Field Activity
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- TRW Inc.
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 957 kg
- Operating
- No: its regular operations have ended
- 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, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:20 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 12.3° N, 125.8° E
- Altitude
- 35,812 km
- Speed
- 3.07 km/s (11,063 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In sunlight until 3:05 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 12.4°
- Orbital period
- 1,436.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1
- This orbit
- 35,763 to 35,814 km
- In shadow
- 45 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,940 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 11:35 PM, 18 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:35 PM, 18 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for FLTSATCOM F8, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to FLTSATCOM F8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLTSATCOM F8 | 35,763 to 35,814 km | 1,436 minutes | 957 kg | 1989 |
| 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 7, 2026, 11:35 PM, 18 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "FLTSATCOM 8 (USA 46)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1989-077A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:35:03.061248",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.00267438,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00060545,
"INCLINATION": 12.3845,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 350.2868,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 271.3557,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 264.9773,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 20253,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 26200,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000368,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}