- Communications satellite
- Military
- SKYNET 5A
- NORAD 30794
- 2007-007B
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over the Indian Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Skynet 5A 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 5A, 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
- Rendezvous
USA 271 came up beside Skynet 5A, Sep 5, 2025 to Sep 13, 2025, as public sources state. Its sources
Summary
Over the Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is Skynet 5A?
At 6:21:16 PM UTC Skynet 5A was over the Indian Ocean (1.3° S, 95.3° E), 35,802 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Skynet 5A?
A communications satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Mar 11, 2007.
Can I see Skynet 5A?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Skynet 5A, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Paradigm Secure Comms, Astrium Services
- State
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Built by
- EADS Bremen
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 4.6 t
- Operating
- Yes
- 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
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 1.3° S, 95.3° E
- Altitude
- 35,802 km
- Speed
- 3.07 km/s (11,066 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 5.7°
- Orbital period
- 1,436.1 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 1
- This orbit
- 35,771 to 35,803 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,940 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:59 AM, 10 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:59 AM, 10 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Skynet 5A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Skynet 5A 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 5A shares its launch, 2007-007, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| INSAT 4B | Communications satellite |
| ARIANE 5 R/B | Rocket 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
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skynet 5A | 35,771 to 35,803 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.6 t | 2007 |
| 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, 7:59 AM, 10 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "SKYNET 5A",
"OBJECT_ID": "2007-007B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:59:33.354816",
"MEAN_MOTION": 1.00273201,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00038517,
"INCLINATION": 5.6623,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 71.93,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 166.0578,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 24.6516,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 30794,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 7214,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000264,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}