- Communications satellite
- OSCAR 17 (DOVE)
- NORAD 20440
- 1990-005E
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches DOVE-OSCAR-17 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 DOVE-OSCAR-17, 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
- Close approach
On Thursday, Oct 22 at 12:46 PM UTC, a fragment of SL-16 (NORAD 22494) was to pass within 625 m of Oscar 17 (DOVE) (NORAD 20440). The chance was about 1 in 10,000.
Summary
Over Antarctica LIVE
Where is DOVE-OSCAR-17?
At 6:21:03 PM UTC DOVE-OSCAR-17 was over Antarctica (80.4° S, 136.8° E), 810 km up, moving at 7.45 km/s and in sunlight.
What is DOVE-OSCAR-17?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 22, 1990.
Can I see DOVE-OSCAR-17?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for DOVE-OSCAR-17, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- AMSAT-Brasil
- State
- Brazil, Federal Republic of
- Built by
- Weber State Univ., Utah
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 12 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
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 80.4° S, 136.8° E
- Altitude
- 810 km
- Speed
- 7.45 km/s (26,802 km/h)
- Course
- south-west
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:42 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.8°
- Orbital period
- 100.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.35
- This orbit
- 766 to 782 km
- In shadow
- 19 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,120 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 2:09 AM, 16 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 2:09 AM, 16 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for DOVE-OSCAR-17, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to DOVE-OSCAR-17 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
DOVE-OSCAR-17 shares its launch, 1990-005, with 7 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SPOT 2 | Earth-watching satellite |
| OSCAR 14 (UOSAT 3) | Communications satellite |
| OSCAR 15 (UOSAT 4) | Communications satellite |
| OSCAR 16 (PACSAT) | Communications satellite |
| OSCAR 18 (WEBERSAT) | Communications satellite |
| OSCAR 19 (LUSAT) | Communications satellite |
| ARIANE 40 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOVE-OSCAR-17 | 766 to 782 km | 100 minutes | 12 kg | 1990 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| 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 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 2:09 AM, 16 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "OSCAR 17 (DOVE)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1990-005E",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T02:09:46.312704",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.34527173,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00112571,
"INCLINATION": 98.8475,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 346.0673,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 138.766,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 245.9658,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 20440,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 92297,
"BSTAR": 0.00006686803,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000142,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}