- Communications satellite
- Military
- MOLNIYA 1-80
- NORAD 21118
- 1991-012A
- Highly elliptical orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Molniya-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 Molniya-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 reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Canada LIVE
Where is Molniya-1?
At 5:36:50 PM UTC Molniya-1 was over Canada (54.9° N, 87.5° W), 35,538 km up, moving at 1.95 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Molniya-1?
A communications satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Feb 15, 1991.
Can I see Molniya-1?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Molniya-1, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Upravleniye Nachalnika Kosmicheskikh Sredstv RF
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- NPO Applied Mechanics
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.7 t
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Highly elliptical orbit
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
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 54.9° N, 87.5° W
- Altitude
- 35,538 km
- Speed
- 1.95 km/s (7,002 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 64.9°
- Orbital period
- 701.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 2.05
- This orbit
- 3,146 to 36,406 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,940 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 2:23 PM, 1 day old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 2:23 PM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Molniya-1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Molniya-1 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.
Launched with
Molniya-1 shares its launch, 1991-012, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-6 R/B(2) | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Molniya-1 | 3,146 to 36,406 km | 702 minutes | about 1.7 t | 1991 |
| 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, 2:23 PM, 1 day old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "MOLNIYA 1-80",
"OBJECT_ID": "1991-012A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T14:23:58.878528",
"MEAN_MOTION": 2.05241948,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.63583302,
"INCLINATION": 64.8898,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 183.0027,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 253.5173,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 31.7248,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 21118,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 26390,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000408,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}