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SatelliteIndex

Satellite · NORAD 39256 · COSPAR 2013-050A

AEHF-3 (USA 246)

ActivePayloadGEOCommunications derived

Altitude now

35,901.1km

SGP4 propagation

Velocity

3.07km/s

Inclination

5.50°

Period

23.9 h

1,436.1 min

Perigee

35,400km

Apogee

36,175km

orbit agingOrbit updated 10 h ago · element epoch 11 Sept 2026 14:08 UTC (18.8 h old)· Metadata updated 10 h ago

Live position

Ground track & current position

Propagated client-side every 5 s from the latest element set (SGP4). Accuracy degrades with element age.

Ground track of AEHF-3 (USA 246)AEHF-3 (USA 246)
LIVE · SGP4

Loading ground track…

Latitude
4.957° S
Longitude
123.080° W
Altitude
35901.1 km
Velocity
3.066 km/s
  • past 45 min
  • next 90 min
  • first fix from server render · element epoch 11 Sept 2026 14:08 UTC

Mission

Mission & classification

Mission type derived
Communications
Object type
Payload
SATCAT ops status
Operational [+]
Radar cross-section
20.0 m²

CelesTrak groups

Aliases

  • AEHF-3 (USA 246)Celestrak

Ownership

Operator & country

Operator
—
SATCAT owner code
US · United States
Country
United States US

Launch

Launch

Launch page →
Launch date
18 Sept 2013
COSPAR launch id
2013-050
Launch site
Cape Canaveral / Kennedy Space Center (Eastern Range), Florida

Objects from the same launch · 1

Change log

History

FieldChangeSourceDate
Country Code∅ → USCelestrak Satcat11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC
Owner Code∅ → USCelestrak Satcat11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC
Orbit Class∅ → GEOCelestrak11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC

Regulatory

UN registration

UN Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space (UNOOSA) — connector planned, not yet ingested; registration unavailable

Transparency

Sources & provenance

All sources →

  • CelesTrakcommunity

    Orbital data courtesy of CelesTrak (Dr. T.S. Kelso).

    last sync 8 h ago

  • CelesTrak SATCATcommunity

    Satellite catalog data courtesy of CelesTrak.

    last sync 20 h ago

Field provenance

FieldSourceObservedConfidence
Canonical NameCelesTrak SATCAT11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC100%
Decay DateCelesTrak SATCAT11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC100%
Launch DateCelesTrak SATCAT11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC100%
Object TypeCelesTrak SATCAT11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC100%
Orbital ElementsCelesTrak12 Sept 2026 07:07 UTC100%
Owner CodeCelesTrak SATCAT11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC100%
StatusCelesTrak SATCAT11 Sept 2026 18:53 UTC100%

Quality flags

  • UNKNOWN_OPERATORactive payload without resolved operator11 Sept 2026

Timeline

Events

All events →

No events detected for this object yet. Launches, decays and orbit changes are generated by the derived-analytics connector.

Reference

Identifiers

NORAD catalogue number
39256
COSPAR / international designator
2013-050A
SatelliteIndex id
sat_01M28X2SWWDCTX9MYDGY0F69VM
Canonical slug
aehf-3-usa-246-39256

Orbit class, mission type and constellation membership are derived by SatelliteIndex (Communications) — see the methodology. Positions are propagated estimates, not tracking measurements; never use them for conjunction assessment.