Re-entered 1970-06-26Payload

ESRO-1A (AURORAE)

NORAD: 3459
COSPAR: 1968-084A

OrbitalWiki publishes live orbits for active satellites only. This object is in the full catalogue: who launched it, what it is and its last published orbit are below, but there are no current orbital elements for it here.

Is it working?

Sources agree

Source	What it says	Date
CelesTrak SATCAT	Decayed or deorbited	1970-06-26
GCAT (J. McDowell)	Re-entered	1970-06-26
GCAT (J. McDowell)	Fell silent	1970-06-26
GCAT (J. McDowell)	Regular operations ended	1970-06-26
GCAT (J. McDowell)	Last known active	1970-06-26

Each line is one source and what it says. Where they disagree, both are shown; OrbitalWiki does not pick a winner.

Spacecraft

Program: ESRO
Built by: Laboratoire Centrale de Telecommunications
Owner: European Space Research Organization
Platform (bus): ESRO 1
Purpose: Science
Sector: Civil government
Mass at launch: 85 kg
Dry mass: 85 kg
Length: 0.9 m
Diameter: 0.8 m
Span with arrays and booms: 2.4 m
Shape: Cyl
UN registration: A/AC.105/INF.207

From GCAT by Jonathan McDowell (CC BY 4.0), record S03459, checked 2026-11-05. About this source

Launch

Launch date: 1968-10-03
Rocket: Scout B
Flight: ESRO 1A
Mission name: ESRO 1A
Launch site: Soviet Armed Forces, SLC5
Launched by: USAF Space and Missile Systems Organization
Rocket performance: Success
Launch designator: 1968-084

From the GCAT launch log, launch 1968-084, checked 2026-11-05. About this source

Catalogue record

Object type: Payload
Owner code: ESRO
Launch date: 1968-10-03
Re-entered: 1970-06-26
Period: 87.9 min
Inclination: 93.64°
Apogee: 180 km
Perigee: 159 km

From CelesTrak SATCAT, checked 2026-11-05. About this source

Where it came from

Parent object: SCOUT B R/B (NORAD 3460)
Catalogued pieces that came from it: 2

The object this one was attached to at launch, or broke off from, as GCAT records it.

Everything from this launch

Debris2 in total, 0 still in orbit
Payload1 in total, 0 still in orbit
Rocket body1 in total, 0 still in orbit