- Communications satellite
- THOR 1 (MARCOPOLO 2)
- NORAD 20762
- 1990-074A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Coral Sea
Orbit ends over the Coral Sea
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Marcopolo 2 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 Marcopolo 2, 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 Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Marcopolo 2?
At 8:57:56 AM UTC Marcopolo 2 was over the Pacific Ocean (4.1° S, 166.4° E), 36,089 km up, moving at 3.06 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Marcopolo 2?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Aug 18, 1990.
Can I see Marcopolo 2?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Marcopolo 2, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- British Satellite Broadcasting
- State
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Built by
- Hughes Space and Comms. Co (Hughes Satellite Systems)
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 690 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
- 8:57 AM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 8:57 AM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 4.1° S, 166.4° E
- Altitude
- 36,089 km
- Speed
- 3.06 km/s (11,030 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight until 12:34 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 14.6°
- Orbital period
- 1,451.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 0.99
- This orbit
- 36,058 to 36,117 km
- In shadow
- 36 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,950 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 11:53 AM, 21 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 11:53 AM, 21 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Marcopolo 2, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Marcopolo 2 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 9, 2026, 5:39 AM, 2 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
Marcopolo 2 shares its launch, 1990-074, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| DELTA 2 R/B | Rocket body |
| MARCOPOLO 2 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
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcopolo 2 | 36,058 to 36,117 km | 1,451 minutes | 690 kg | 1990 |
| 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 8, 2026, 11:53 AM, 21 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "THOR 1 (MARCOPOLO 2)",
"OBJECT_ID": "1990-074A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T11:53:28.402368",
"MEAN_MOTION": 0.99211682,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00069927,
"INCLINATION": 14.643,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 5.5448,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 249.8292,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 139.8969,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 20762,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 4764,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000229,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}