- Communications satellite
- APSTAR 1A
- NORAD 23943
- 1996-039A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Apstar 1A 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 Apstar 1A, 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 Apstar 1A?
At 6:45:29 PM UTC Apstar 1A was over the Pacific Ocean (9.2° S, 84.8° W), 36,137 km up, moving at 3.06 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Apstar 1A?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jul 3, 1996.
Can I see Apstar 1A?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Apstar 1A, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Asia Pacific Telecom
- State
- Hong Kong Colony
- Built by
- Hughes Space and Comms. Co (Hughes Satellite Systems)
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 770 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
- 6:45 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:45 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 9.2° S, 84.8° W
- Altitude
- 36,137 km
- Speed
- 3.06 km/s (11,016 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 12.8°
- Orbital period
- 1,451.8 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 0.99
- This orbit
- 36,009 to 36,178 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,950 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 3:43 AM, 15 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:43 AM, 15 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Apstar 1A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Apstar 1A 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apstar 1A | 36,009 to 36,178 km | 1,452 minutes | 770 kg | 1996 |
| 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, 3:43 AM, 15 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "APSTAR 1A",
"OBJECT_ID": "1996-039A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:43:52.425696",
"MEAN_MOTION": 0.99189308,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00198817,
"INCLINATION": 12.8229,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 19.0077,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 346.2551,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 16.6,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 23943,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 4407,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000101,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}