- Earth-watching satellite
- SAUDISAT 3
- NORAD 31118
- 2007-012B
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Sea of Okhotsk
Orbit ends over Russia
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Saudisat 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 Saudisat 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 it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Sargasso Sea LIVE
Where is Saudisat 3?
At 6:21:42 PM UTC Saudisat 3 was over the Sargasso Sea (28.3° N, 64.4° W), 661 km up, moving at 7.53 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Saudisat 3?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 17, 2007.
Can I see Saudisat 3?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Saudisat 3, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology
- State
- Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of
- Built by
- King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 200 kg
- Operating
- No: its regular operations have ended
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
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
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 28.3° N, 64.4° W
- Altitude
- 661 km
- Speed
- 7.53 km/s (27,104 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:43 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.2°
- Orbital period
- 97.9 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.71
- This orbit
- 642 to 664 km
- In shadow
- 31 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,870 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 3:32 AM, 13 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:32 AM, 14 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Saudisat 3, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Saudisat 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.
Launched with
Saudisat 3 shares its launch, 2007-012, with 15 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| EGYPTSAT 1 | Earth-watching satellite |
| SAUDICOMSAT 7 | Communications satellite |
| SL-24 DEB | Debris |
| SAUDICOMSAT 6 | Communications satellite |
| CSTB 1 | Satellite |
| SL-24 R/B | Rocket body |
| SAUDICOMSAT 5 | Communications satellite |
| SAUDICOMSAT 3 | Communications satellite |
| MAST | Satellite |
| SAUDICOMSAT 4 | Communications satellite |
| LIBERTAD 1 | Satellite |
| CP3 | Satellite |
| CAPE 1 | Satellite |
| CP4 | Satellite |
| AEROCUBE 2 | 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
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudisat 3 | 642 to 664 km | 98 minutes | 200 kg | 2007 |
| ALOS-2 | 630 to 632 km | 97 minutes | about 2.1 t | 2014 |
| SMAP | 681 to 683 km | 98 minutes | 944 kg | 2015 |
| SAOCOM 1A | 622 to 624 km | 97 minutes | about 3 t | 2018 |
| Aqua | 685 to 687 km | 98 minutes | about 2.9 t | 2002 |
| Terra | 688 to 691 km | 99 minutes | about 5.2 t | 1999 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 3:32 AM, 13 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "SAUDISAT 3",
"OBJECT_ID": "2007-012B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:32:41.150400",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.71497001,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00156822,
"INCLINATION": 98.1654,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 262.7745,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 126.6383,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 233.6268,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 31118,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 4891,
"BSTAR": 0.000058658422,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000313,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}