Hot Bird 3

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/24931

  • Communications satellite
  • W75/ABS-1B (HOT BIRD 3)
  • NORAD 24931
  • 1997-049A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where Hot Bird 3 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Nigeria

Orbit ends over the Central African Republic

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Hot Bird 3 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 Hot Bird 3, 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 Angola LIVE

Where is Hot Bird 3?

At 6:20:17 PM UTC Hot Bird 3 was over Angola (8.9° S, 18° E), 35,194 km up, moving at 3.1 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Hot Bird 3?

A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Sep 2, 1997.

Can I see Hot Bird 3?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Hot Bird 3, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
European Telecommunications Satellite Organization
State
European Telecommunications Satellite Organization
Built by
Matra Marconi Space (Toulouse)
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
about 2.9 t
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
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
6:20 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:20 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
8.9° S, 18° E
Altitude
35,194 km
Speed
3.1 km/s (11,146 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
11.6°
Orbital period
1,405.2 minutes
Orbits per day
1.02
This orbit
35,102 to 35,258 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,930 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 11:02 PM, 19 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:02 PM, 19 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Hot Bird 3, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Hot Bird 3 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

Hot Bird 3 shares its launch, 1997-049, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
METEOSAT 7Earth-watching satellite
METEOSAT 7 AKMRocket 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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Hot Bird 335,102 to 35,258 km1,405 minutesabout 2.9 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, 11:02 PM, 19 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "W75/ABS-1B (HOT BIRD 3)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1997-049A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:02:21.192864",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 1.02479106,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00188085,
  "INCLINATION": 11.5868,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 30.9296,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 50.3904,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 322.6465,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 24931,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 10817,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -2.6e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}