Rainbow 1

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/27852

  • Communications satellite
  • ECHOSTAR 12 (RAINBOW 1)
  • NORAD 27852
  • 2003-033A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where Rainbow 1 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Orbit ends over the Central African Republic

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Rainbow 1 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 Rainbow 1, 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 Central African Republic LIVE

Where is Rainbow 1?

At 8:39:23 AM UTC Rainbow 1 was over the Central African Republic (6.1° N, 16.8° E), 36,126 km up, moving at 3.06 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Rainbow 1?

A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jul 17, 2003.

Can I see Rainbow 1?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Rainbow 1, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Rainbow DBS Company LLC
State
United States of America
Built by
Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems/Sunnyvale
What it is
Communications satellite
Launched
Mass
about 4.3 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
8:39 AM UTC
Station time (UTC)
8:39 AM UTC
Latitude / longitude
6.1° N, 16.8° E
Altitude
36,126 km
Speed
3.06 km/s (11,030 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
6.6°
Orbital period
1,456.2 minutes
Orbits per day
0.99
This orbit
36,119 to 36,244 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,950 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 11:01 PM, 9 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 11:01 PM, 9 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Rainbow 1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Rainbow 1 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 9, 2026, 5:39 AM, 2 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

Rainbow 1 shares its launch, 2003-033, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/BRocket 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
Rainbow 136,119 to 36,244 km1,456 minutesabout 4.3 t2003
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 8, 2026, 11:01 PM, 9 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "ECHOSTAR 12 (RAINBOW 1)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2003-033A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T23:01:29.427168",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.9888428,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00146964,
  "INCLINATION": 6.6408,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 83.0595,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 144.2325,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 184.9717,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 27852,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 8504,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -7.4e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}