Home›Maneuver Tracker›Close Approaches›SBIRS GEO 1 (USA 230) ⟷ RADUGA 4
HighCross-border
On permanent record
Live forecastConfirmed by the latest screening, 11 Nov 11:39 UTC.
Closest approach12 Nov 202610:01 UTC
Drift speed462 m/s1,662 km/h, seen from RADUGA 4
Altitude35,776 kmnear the geostationary belt
Separation now—live

US SBIRS GEO 1 (USA 230) and RU RADUGA 4 are predicted to reach a closest approach of 3.08 km at 2026-11-12 10:01 UTC, drifting past at about 462 m/s (1,662 km/h) as seen from RADUGA 4. Confirmed by the latest screening, 11 Nov 11:39 UTC. This is a cross-border encounter between objects of different nations. Miss distance and time of closest approach are computed by propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects, and each pass is re-checked every 20 minutes as new element sets are published. See the Satellite Maneuver Tracker for the live picture and space situational awareness for context.

Why it mattersBoth objects are catalogued as payloads. Screening continues as new element sets arrive; operators act on their own conjunction data.

The Two Objects

Dossiers from the satellite directory
NORAD 37481
CountryUS
Launched2011-05-07
COSPAR2011-019A
Maneuver capableUnknown
RADUGA 4Payload
NORAD 10987
CountryCIS
Launched1978-07-18
COSPAR1978-073A
Maneuver capableUnknown

Where This Happens

Altitude context
GEO BELT 35,786 KMTHIS PASS · 35,776 KMLEOMEOGEO

This pass happens near the geostationary belt, where satellites hold fixed longitude slots and relative speeds are low. Close approaches here are usually slow drifts rather than crossing passes. About GEO →

History Between This Pair

1 predicted pass under 10 km
Pair history · SBIRS GEO 1 (USA 230) ⟷ RADUGA 4
2026-11-12 10:013.08 km Live forecast0.46 km/s35,776 kmShown above

Repeat encounters are common for objects in near-intersecting orbital planes. Each pass is re-screened as fresh element sets arrive; "Final forecast" means the screening still predicted it within 45 minutes of its time, "Not re-confirmed" means later screening stopped finding it.

Forecast Record

Every figure published for the pass shown above, newest first. Nothing is overwritten: a withdrawn forecast keeps its figure, with the newer check beside it, and the best estimate after the pass is a row of its own.
Computed · figure · predicted time · orbit data · by
11 Nov 10:26 UTC3.08 km Forecast12 Nov 10:01 UTC11 Nov 04:46 UTCRe-check
11 Nov 10:06 UTC3.13 km Forecast12 Nov 10:01 UTC10 Nov 02:33 UTCScreen

How These Numbers Are Computed

Miss distance and TCA come from propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects and searching for the minimum separation over the screening window. Element sets carry kilometre-scale uncertainty, so figures here describe a close pass, not a collision prediction; a change in either object's published elements re-computes the pass automatically. What is a conjunction? → How conjunction assessment works →

✓ Permanent record. This encounter met the notability thresholds and keeps an archived page after the pass.