Prospero

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/5580

  • PROSPERO (BLACK ARROW)
  • NORAD 5580
  • 1971-093A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Prospero is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Atlantic Ocean

Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Prospero 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 Prospero, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE

Where is Prospero?

At 9:15:00 PM UTC Prospero was over the Atlantic Ocean (54.5° S, 11.8° W), 729 km up, moving at 7.58 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Prospero?

A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Oct 28, 1971.

Can I see Prospero?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Prospero, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
Royal Aircraft Establishment
State
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Built by
British Aircraft Corp.
Launched
Mass
66 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
9:15 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
9:15 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
54.5° S, 11.8° W
Altitude
729 km
Speed
7.58 km/s (27,292 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 10:29 PM UTC
Inclination
82°
Orbital period
102.7 minutes
Orbits per day
14.02
This orbit
521 to 1,247 km
In shadow
19 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 1,990 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 1:19 AM, 19 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 1:19 AM, 19 hours old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Prospero 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Prospero shares its launch, 1971-093, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
BLACK ARROW 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.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 1:19 AM, 19 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "PROSPERO (BLACK ARROW)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1971-093A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T01:19:02.150400",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.01932312,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.04998721,
  "INCLINATION": 82.0379,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 164.5325,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 174.3741,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 186.3356,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 5580,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 76868,
  "BSTAR": 0.00017641077,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000845,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}