Geostationary
SKYNET 5A
Military Communications · Airbus / UK MoD (PFI)
Right now
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The first second-generation UK Skynet satellite, marking a major upgrade in British military space communications. Skynet-5A is operated under a public-private partnership — Paradigm Secure Communications built, owns, and operates the satellite, selling services to the UK Ministry of Defence. This was one of the first major national security satellite programs to use a commercial model, a template that other NATO nations later followed.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Geostationaryappears to hang motionless over one spot on the equator
- Altitude
- 22,233–22,251 mi (35,780–35,810 km)
- Inclination
- 5.5°
- One orbit
- 23.9 hoursabout one orbit a day
- NORAD ID
- 30794
- Int’l designator
- 2007-007B
- Launched
- 2007
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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