INMARSAT III F-4

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/24819

  • Communications satellite
  • INMARSAT 3-F4
  • NORAD 24819
  • 1997-027A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where INMARSAT III F-4 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over Burkina Faso

Orbit ends over Burkina Faso

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches INMARSAT III F-4 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 INMARSAT III F-4, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE

Where is INMARSAT III F-4?

At 6:25:10 PM UTC INMARSAT III F-4 was over the Atlantic Ocean (11.3° S, 0.6° W), 36,029 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.

What is INMARSAT III F-4?

A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jun 3, 1997.

Can I see INMARSAT III F-4?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for INMARSAT III F-4, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
International Maritime Satellite Organization
State
International Maritime Satellite Organization
Built by
Lockheed Martin Telecommunications/East Windsor
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
about 1.1 t
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
6:25 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:25 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
11.3° S, 0.6° W
Altitude
36,029 km
Speed
3.07 km/s (11,034 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
11.8°
Orbital period
1,447.2 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,981 to 36,029 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,950 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 10:59 PM, 19 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 10:59 PM, 19 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for INMARSAT III F-4, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to INMARSAT III F-4 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

INMARSAT III F-4 shares its launch, 1997-027, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
INSAT 2DCommunications satellite

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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
INMARSAT III F-435,981 to 36,029 km1,447 minutesabout 1.1 t1997
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011
Hotbird 13F35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.5 t2022

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 10:59 PM, 19 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "INMARSAT 3-F4",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1997-027A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T22:59:36.455712",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.99502621,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00056744,
  "INCLINATION": 11.7844,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 36.5205,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 94.5483,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 262.3661,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 24819,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 10748,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.0000013,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}