OSCAR 10

OSCAR 10 is an active satellite operated by Germany, launched on 1983-06-16 from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou. With over 43 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 4,035 km and 35,413 km with an inclination of 25.9°. It travels at approximately 14,070 km/h (3.91 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 39 minutes — that’s roughly 2.06 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6012 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks OSCAR 10 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

OSCAR 10 orbits at an average altitude of 19,724 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 OSCAR 10’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 12 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 25.9°, OSCAR 10 passes over latitudes between 25.9°N and 25.9°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. Germany operates approximately 80 active satellites in total.