- Communications satellite
- Military
- SKYNET 4D
- NORAD 25134
- 1998-002A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over Tanzania
In view from you
Nobody watches Skynet 4D 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 Skynet 4D, 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 Kenya LIVE
Where is Skynet 4D?
At 6:46:14 PM UTC Skynet 4D was over Kenya (0.1° N, 40.6° E), 36,125 km up, moving at 3.06 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Skynet 4D?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jan 10, 1998.
Can I see Skynet 4D?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Skynet 4D, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Ministry of Defence, London
- State
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Built by
- Matra Marconi Space (Stevenage)
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 823 kg
- 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, 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
- 6:46 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:46 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 0.1° N, 40.6° E
- Altitude
- 36,125 km
- Speed
- 3.06 km/s (11,023 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 12.9°
- Orbital period
- 1,452.3 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 0.99
- This orbit
- 36,080 to 36,129 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,950 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 6:04 PM, 1 day old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 6:04 PM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Skynet 4D, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Skynet 4D 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
Skynet 4D shares its launch, 1998-002, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| DELTA 2 R/B(1) | Rocket body |
| DELTA 2 R/B(2) | Rocket body |
| DELTA 2 DEB | Debris |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skynet 4D | 36,080 to 36,129 km | 1,452 minutes | 823 kg | 1998 |
| 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, 6:04 PM, 1 day old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "SKYNET 4D",
"OBJECT_ID": "1998-002A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T18:04:12.262944",
"MEAN_MOTION": 0.99151836,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00057759,
"INCLINATION": 12.9144,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 9.8513,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 206.2408,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 146.6397,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 25134,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 10479,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 4.8e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}