- Communications satellite
- OSCAR 5
- NORAD 4321
- 1970-008B
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Australis-OSCAR 5 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 Australis-OSCAR 5, 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
- Close approach
On Thursday, Oct 22 at 7:01 PM UTC, a fragment of Delta 1 (NORAD 12532) was to pass within 73 m of Oscar 5 (NORAD 4321). The chance was about 1 in 1,000.
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is Australis-OSCAR 5?
At 6:21:42 PM UTC Australis-OSCAR 5 was over the Atlantic Ocean (54° N, 24.8° W), 1,458 km up, moving at 7.14 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Australis-OSCAR 5?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 23, 1970.
Can I see Australis-OSCAR 5?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Australis-OSCAR 5, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- Melbourne Uni./Australis
- State
- Australia, Commonwealth of
- Built by
- Melbourne Uni./Australis
- What it is
- Communications satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 18 kg
- Operating
- 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
- 54° N, 24.8° W
- Altitude
- 1,458 km
- Speed
- 7.14 km/s (25,708 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 101.3°
- Orbital period
- 115 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 12.52
- This orbit
- 1,431 to 1,474 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,970 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 Australis-OSCAR 5, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to Australis-OSCAR 5 is reported for the next three 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
Australis-OSCAR 5 shares its launch, 1970-008, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| ITOS 1 (TIROS M) | Earth-watching satellite |
| DELTA 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australis-OSCAR 5 | 1,431 to 1,474 km | 115 minutes | 18 kg | 1970 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| 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 |
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": "OSCAR 5",
"OBJECT_ID": "1970-008B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:02:41.328384",
"MEAN_MOTION": 12.52193804,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.0027523,
"INCLINATION": 101.3264,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 313.758,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 341.7306,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 46.7162,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 4321,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 59544,
"BSTAR": 0.00015226,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -1.9e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}