Geostationary
SYRACUSE 3A
Military Communications · French Ministry of Defence
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France's most capable military communications satellite at the time of its launch, providing the French armed forces with sovereign protected communications. SYRACUSE-3A operates in X and Ka bands, supporting French nuclear forces, navy, and deployed ground forces. France maintains independent military space communications as an expression of its longstanding policy of strategic autonomy — the ability to conduct military operations without depending on US or NATO systems.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Geostationaryappears to hang motionless over one spot on the equator
- Altitude
- 22,471–22,673 mi (36,164–36,489 km)
- Inclination
- 5.0°
- One orbit
- 24.4 hoursabout one orbit a day
- NORAD ID
- 28885
- Int’l designator
- 2005-041B
- Launched
- 2005
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 7 Nov 2026.
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