ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT

ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT is an active satellite operated by Spacing Guild UK (United Kingdom), launched on 2024-12-29 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the Astranis launch. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 3,909 km and 67,642 km with an inclination of 9.1°. It travels at approximately 11,071 km/h (3.08 km/s), completing one full orbit every ~24 hours (geosynchronous) — that’s roughly 1.00 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7561 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At geostationary altitude, there is no meaningful atmospheric drag — this object will remain in orbit indefinitely unless actively deorbited. Orbital Radar tracks ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 3,909 km (perigee) and 67,642 km (apogee). It spends most of its ~24 hours (geosynchronous) orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. Within ±50 km of ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT’s average altitude, there are currently 739 active payloads and 61 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ASTRA 1N, GOES 16, TDRS 13. With an inclination of 9.1°, ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT passes over latitudes between 9.1°N and 9.1°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United Kingdom operates approximately 725 active satellites in total, of which 13 share a similar altitude band with ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT.