ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT

ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT is an active satellite operated by United Kingdom, launched on 2024-12-29 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the Astranis launch. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 4,022 km and 67,545 km with an inclination of 9.1°. It travels at approximately 11,070 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 0.7535 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 4,022 km (perigee) and 67,545 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 709 active payloads and 60 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 719 active satellites in total, of which 12 share a similar altitude band with ASTRANIS UTILITYSAT.