O3b
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
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
O3b 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 pictures; details simplified. It has 9,288 triangles in a 50 kB glTF file, and is 12 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 |
|---|---|
| Length | 4 m |
| Diameter | 2 m |
| Span | 12 m |
| Steerable antennas | 12 |
| Mass | 700 kg |
J. McDowell, 'General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects' (GCAT), planet4589.org/space/gcat , satcat.tsv of 2026-10-26, OPENED 2026-10-27 (licence on the page: 'GCAT is released under the Creative Commons CC-BY licence'); columns Length, Diameter, Span, Shape: O3B FM1 to FM20 'Length 4.0, Diameter 2.0, Span 12.0' m, shape 'Box trap+2 pan', mass 700 kg, maker Thales Alenia Space. Gunter's Space Page, space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/o3b.htm , OPENED 2026-10-27: 'Twelve fully steerable antennas ensure an optimized connection'; 'Power is supplied by two gallium arsenide solar arrays and a Li-Ion battery'. Wikipedia, 'O3b', OPENED 2026-10-27: 'Each satellite is equipped with twelve fully steerable Ka-band antennas (two beams for gateways, ten beams for remotes)'; 'weigh approximately 700 kg'. NOT PUBLISHED, OURS: the box's width and depth, the dishes' diameter, rows and lean, the panels' width and number, the yokes. (read 2026-10-27)
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, CC BY; no free picture of the craft).
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA Science's 3D models and NASA's 3D Resources have none of this craft, and the maker and the operator publish none under terms that allow a derivative); the layout and its sources are under `references` and `dimensions`
Where the map uses it. O3B FM1 to FM20 (the twenty first-generation craft: 39188 to 44115): Thales Alenia Space's ELiTeBus-1000, a gold box with twelve steerable Ka-band dishes on its Earth face and two small wings, 12 m tip to tip. They were drawn as generic satellites; the O3b mPOWER craft are another shape; public #1155
Licence note. The numbers are McDowell's GCAT (CC BY 4.0, cited under `dimensions`); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence. NO FREE PICTURE OF THE CRAFT WAS FOUND: the layout was read off an artist's render on Gunter's Space Page, LOOKED AT ONLY (not fetched by the tool, on no sheet, nothing of it in the file). NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 1
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- o3b__2Gunter's Space Page (the render's maker is not named there)an artist's render on Gunter's Space Page (copyright of its maker): LOOKED AT ONLY for the layout: the long gold-wrapped box, the two rows of white dishes along its Earth face, two small wings on yokes; not fetched by the tool, on no sheet, nothing of it in the file
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:
O3b 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=o3b" title="O3b, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
A2100AX satellite bus
Shape built from published dimensions and the maker’s renders; details estimated.
Boeing 702 satellite bus
Shape built from published dimensions and the maker’s renders; details estimated.