- Communications satellite
- NORAD 23176
- 1994-040B
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches BS-3N 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 BS-3N, 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 Monday, Oct 26 at 9:37 AM UTC, ANIK E2 (NORAD 21222) was to pass within 4.4 km of BS-3N (NORAD 23176).
Summary
Over the Arabian Sea LIVE
Where is BS-3N?
At 5:36:43 PM UTC BS-3N was over the Arabian Sea (1.3° N, 72° E), 36,096 km up, moving at 3.06 km/s and in sunlight.
What is BS-3N?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jul 8, 1994.
Can I see BS-3N?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for BS-3N, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Japan Broadcasting Corp.
- State
- Japan (Nippon), State of
- Built by
- Martin Marietta Astro Space/East Windsor
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 667 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
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 1.3° N, 72° E
- Altitude
- 36,096 km
- Speed
- 3.06 km/s (11,030 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 13.5°
- Orbital period
- 1,452.4 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 0.99
- This orbit
- 36,097 to 36,114 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,950 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 7:45 PM, 21 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 7:45 PM, 21 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for BS-3N, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to BS-3N 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
BS-3N shares its launch, 1994-040, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| INTELSAT 2 (PAS 2) | Communications satellite |
| ARIANE 44L+ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BS-3N | 36,097 to 36,114 km | 1,452 minutes | 667 kg | 1994 |
| 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, 7:45 PM, 21 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "BS-3N",
"OBJECT_ID": "1994-040B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T19:45:54.067680",
"MEAN_MOTION": 0.99148688,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00020344,
"INCLINATION": 13.5389,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 18.8693,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 334.5346,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 65.9836,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 23176,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 10373,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 3.3e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}