GOES 3

About This Satellite

GOES-3 launched on June 16, 1978 as a weather satellite and later became a communications relay, including service to the South Pole. NOAA records its final decommissioning on June 29, 2016. Its unusually long career reflects changing uses of a spacecraft, not nearly four decades of uninterrupted weather imaging.

An inclined orbit enabled an unusual polar link

NOAA explains that GOES-3 provided a daily communications window of approximately 6.5 hours from its inclined orbit. This was not a conventional equatorial geostationary satellite continuously visible from the pole. The changing apparent position created a useful interval when the geometry allowed the terminal to see the spacecraft.

Disposal changed the meaning of its orbital track

The retirement operation used 20 manoeuvres over 14 days to reach a disposal orbit. A later position prediction therefore should not be treated as the former communications schedule. Tracking a retired relay is different from having a usable link through it.

Mission reference: NOAA NESDIS: GOES-3 weather, communications, and retirement history. Editorial review: 2026-09-12.

The Antarctic network had to move to another relay

The US Antarctic Program documents the transition to DSCS in June 2016 and identifies the previous GOES-3 terminal as a nine-metre antenna using L- and S-band communications. This was ground infrastructure matched to a specific space link. A change of relay involved an operating network, not merely replacing a satellite name in a tracking display.

Reference: US Antarctic Program: South Pole communications transition.

The original weather observations survive in another form

NASA's archive description identifies GOES-3 VISSR infrared imagery preserved on 70 mm film. That historical observation collection belongs to its meteorological role, separate from the later communications role. Researchers looking for cloud information should follow the image collection and its dates, rather than assuming the end of the radio-relay mission defines the weather archive.

Reference: NASA GES DISC: GOES-3 historical infrared imagery.

Reading this orbital snapshot

Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-05. Estimated altitude ranges from 36,035 km at perigee to 36,054 km at apogee, a difference of 19 km. The orbital period is about 1449.3 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00023 indicates a nearly circular path. In a two-body approximation, perigee speed is 1.00 times apogee speed. These are mean-element estimates, not instantaneous measurements. Distance per orbit uses an ellipse approximation.

Saved build snapshot. If a valid TLE is retrieved, this explanation and the orbit panel update together. Otherwise this dated snapshot is retained.

Ground track is not sensor coverage

An inclination of 6.73 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 6.7 degrees north and south. This is a prograde orbit, moving in the same general direction as Earth rotation. The plotted line marks the point beneath the object. It does not represent camera coverage, radio reception, or a guaranteed visible pass.

Is it fixed above one longitude?

The snapshot period is 1449.3 minutes. A sidereal day is about 1,436.07 minutes. Height alone does not establish a geostationary orbit: the period must match Earth rotation and the path must be circular and equatorial. This catalog uses a five-minute period tolerance for near-geosynchronous labels; near-geostationary additionally requires inclination at most 1 degree and eccentricity at most 0.01. These are browsing categories, not evidence of station-keeping or a fixed longitude.

Accuracy and missing information

The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.

Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 10953 · GCAT: S10953 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.

Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)

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