SkySat
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
SkySat 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 14,284 triangles in a 105 kB glTF file, and is 3.6 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for 14 catalogued objects, each where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Mass | 110 kg |
| Body | 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.95 m |
| Telescope aperture | 0.35 m |
| Telescope focal length | 3.6 m |
| Design life | 6 years |
| Prototype body | 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.8 m |
eoPortal, 'SkySat Constellation', eoportal.org/satellite-missions/skysat, OPENED 2026-11-03 (Table 3): 'Attribute Generation A Generation C Mass 83 kg 110 kg Dimensions 60 x 60 x 80 cm 60 x 60 x 95 cm Total ΔV No propulsion ~200 m/s Design life ~4 years ~6 years'; 'Each SkySat satellite is equipped with a Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain telescope (35 cm ∅) with a focal length of 3.6 m'; 'features body-mounted solar panels'; 'The microsatellites feature an aperture cover that protects the imaging payload during launch and initial orbital operations. The cover also hosts the high-data rate antenna of the satellite'; Figure 2: SkySat-3 '~15 cm taller' and '~30 kg heavier' than SkySat-1 and -2; 'Spacecraft size (stowed configuration) 60 cm x 60 cm x 80 cm' (Table 1, the prototypes); the ST-16 star tracker '59 x 56 x 31.5 mm' (Table 2). en.wikipedia 'SkySat' (OPENED 2026-11-03) DISAGREES in two places: 'approximately 80 centimetres (31 in) long ... 220 pounds (100 kg)' (it does not say which generation; it matches eoPortal's Generation A, the prototypes) and 'The 13 SkySat-C satellites are slightly larger and heavier (with mass about 120 kg)'; this build follows eoPortal's table for the C generation (60 x 60 x 95 cm, 110 kg) because it states the generation and the three numbers together; Wikipedia's 80 cm matches the prototypes' 80 cm in eoPortal's table. NOT CITED, READ OFF THE PICTURES AND ESTIMATED against the 0.60 m deck: the aperture ring (0.52 m outer, 4 cm proud), the cover plate (0.53 m beyond the edge, 0.54 m wide), the dish (0.40 m, 5 cm deep) and its bipod (0.30 m high), the aluminium band's height (0.41 m of the 0.95 m), the chrome baffle (8 cm long), the port, the four thrusters' places and cants, the cell tiles (6 x 9 of about 8 x 10 cm on a face: the real cells are a few centimetres), the olive ring under the craft (0.46 m across) and the copper pads on the deck. Which face carries the band, and which edge the cover hinges on, is not the same on every picture; the build puts the band and the hinge on +X. (read 2026-11-03)
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 eoPortal's published numbers for the SkySat C series and from pictures of it by Space Systems Loral and Skybox Imaging (looked at, not used).
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives, object `probe-skysat`), from the cited numbers and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh of the craft (NASA's 3D Resources carry none; Planet publishes pictures, not a model, and the pictures eoPortal reproduces are credited to Skybox Imaging, Space Systems Loral, SpaceX and ECAPS, none free to derive from, so they were looked at only)
Where the map uses it. NORAD 41601, 41771, 41772, 41773, 41774, 42987, 42988, 42989, 42990, 42991, 42992 and 43797 (CelesTrak's SKYSAT-C1 to SKYSAT-C12, names and numbers from the issue's table, to be confirmed by the lead against the live catalogue): Planet's SkySat C series, the production bus built by SSL for Skybox / Terra Bella (not a Dove). SkySat-A and SkySat-B (39418, 40072) are the prototypes and do NOT wear it. They had no route and were drawn as the generic satellite; public #975
Licence note. None of the pictures is in the file and none was fetched into it. LOOKED AT ONLY: the artwork and photographs on eoPortal's SkySat page (credited Skybox Imaging, Space Systems Loral, SpaceX / Planet Labs, ECAPS/SSC; no licence stated; downloaded to a research folder to be looked at, never into the deliverable) and a bench photograph on Commons (CC BY 2.0, jurvetson) that shows no part of the craft's shape. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 6
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- eoPortal, SkySat Constellation: title picture and Figure 21Space Systems Loralno licence stated (eoPortal; credited Space Systems Loral): looked at only
- eoPortal, SkySat Constellation: Figures 2 and 5Skybox Imagingno licence stated (eoPortal; credited Skybox Imaging): looked at only
- eoPortal, SkySat Constellation: Figure 3Skybox Imagingno licence stated (eoPortal; credited Skybox Imaging): looked at only
- eoPortal, SkySat Constellation: Figures 11 and 12SpaceX / Planet Labsno licence stated (eoPortal; credited SpaceX / Planet Labs): looked at only
- eoPortal, SkySat Constellation: Figures 34 and 35ECAPS / SSCno licence stated (eoPortal; credited ECAPS/SSC): looked at only
- Skybox Flat Sat DemojurvetsonCC BY 2.0 (jurvetson; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-11-03)
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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:
SkySat 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=skysat" title="SkySat, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
