SATCOM 3

SATCOM 3 is an active satellite operated by United States, launched on 1979-12-07 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. With over 47 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 8,315 km and 35,494 km with an inclination of 8.8°. It travels at approximately 13,517 km/h (3.75 km/s), completing one full orbit every 13 hours 9 minutes — that’s roughly 1.83 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4806 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks SATCOM 3 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

SATCOM 3 orbits at an average altitude of 21,905 km in Medium Earth Orbit, the region between LEO and GEO (2,000–35,786 km). MEO’s higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer spacecraft are needed for global coverage — but signal latency is higher and radiation from the Van Allen belts is a significant design constraint. Within ±50 km of SATCOM 3’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 19 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 8.8°, SATCOM 3 passes over latitudes between 8.8°N and 8.8°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 12,339 active satellites in total.