Spacebus 4000B satellite bus
Shape built from published dimensions and the maker’s renders; details estimated.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Spacebus 4000B satellite bus is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and the maker’s renders; details estimated. It has 15,468 triangles in a 113 kB glTF file, and is 30 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Body x | 1.8 m |
| Body y | 1.8 m |
| Body z | 3.4 m |
| Span | 30 m |
| Reflector | 2.2 m |
Wikipedia 'Spacebus' (read 2026-11-07): the B series on the 3000 series' structure, the 4000B3 3.7 m high. GCAT, the B rows: Diameter 1.8 m for most (2.3 to 3.5 for a few), Length 2.8 to 5.5 m, Span 17 to 38 m (median 30). Drawn: a box 1.8 x 1.8 x 3.4 m (4.4 m with the deck antennas), 30.0 m over the wings. OURS (ESTIMATED): the reflectors' 2.2 and 2.0 m and their places and tilts, four panels of 2.2 x 2.85 m a wing, the 2.0 m yoke, the radiators' 0.5 m of extra width. (read 2026-11-07)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions (McDowell's GCAT, Wikipedia); layout read from the makers' photographs and renders, looked at only.
The full record
built by this project in code (tools/bus-builder, release 2.0.0 batch m4-buses) from published sizes, with the photographs and the maker's renders under `references` LOOKED AT ONLY; no image-to-3D model was used and no published mesh (NASA 3D Resources has none of this bus)
Where the map uses it. the 18 geostationary satellites registry/geo-buses.yaml names as a Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000B or 3000B (B2, B3), by catalogue number; the C members stay held. A family FORM, not one satellite's payload: the route is `generic` and the card says the shape is built from the maker's renders. They wore the SSL-1300 stand-in; forge #117
Licence note. The numbers are facts (GCAT CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence. The photographs and renders named under `references` were LOOKED AT ONLY: no part of any is in a file. NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 7
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Satellite Inmarsat GX5.jpgas named on the Commons file pageCC BY-SA 4.0 (Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-11-07)
- Athena-Fidus (Gunter's Space Page)Thales Alenia Space, via Gunter's Space Page (Gunter D. Krebs)copyright Thales Alenia Space (a maker's render; looked at only, no part of it is in a file)
- Bangabandhu-1 (Gunter's Space Page)Thales Alenia Space, via Gunter's Space Page (Gunter D. Krebs)copyright Thales Alenia Space (a maker's render; looked at only, no part of it is in a file)
- Galaxy 17 (Gunter's Space Page)Thales Alenia Space, via Gunter's Space Page (Gunter D. Krebs)copyright Thales Alenia Space (a maker's render; looked at only, no part of it is in a file)
- Merah Putih 2 (Gunter's Space Page)Thales Alenia Space, via Gunter's Space Page (Gunter D. Krebs)copyright Thales Alenia Space (a maker's render; looked at only, no part of it is in a file)
- Wikipedia: SpacebusWikipedia contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 (the numbers are facts; nothing else is copied)
- General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (GCAT), satcat.tsv of 2026-11-07Jonathan C. McDowellCC BY 4.0 (the catalogue's own statement)
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Spacebus 4000B satellite bus 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=bus-spacebus-4000b" title="Spacebus 4000B satellite bus, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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