ESA/GOES

ESA/GOES is an active satellite operated by ESA (European Space Agency), launched on 1977-04-20 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the Geos 1 launch. With over 49 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,775 km and 38,379 km with an inclination of 27.7°. It travels at approximately 13,845 km/h (3.85 km/s), completing one full orbit every 12 hours 14 minutes — that’s roughly 1.96 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6606 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks ESA/GOES in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

ESA/GOES orbits at an average altitude of 20,577 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 ESA/GOES’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 9 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 27.7°, ESA/GOES passes over latitudes between 27.7°N and 27.7°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. ESA (European Space Agency) operates approximately 95 active satellites in total.