Home›Maneuver Tracker›Close Approaches›YAOGAN-50 02 ⟷ COSMOS 1577
HighCross-border
Final forecastFinal forecast, made 16 min before the pass.
Closest approach11 Nov 202601:01 UTC
Relative speed13.07 km/sat the closest approach
Altitude958 kmlow Earth orbit
Last confirmed11 Nov00:46 UTC · final forecast

CN YAOGAN-50 02 and RU COSMOS 1577 were predicted to reach a closest approach of 9.02 km at 2026-11-11 01:01 UTC, at a relative speed of 13.07 km/s. Final forecast, made 16 min before the pass. This is a cross-border encounter between objects of different nations. Miss distance and time of closest approach are computed by propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects, and each pass is re-checked every 20 minutes as new element sets are published. See the Satellite Maneuver Tracker for the live picture and space situational awareness for context.

Why it mattersBoth objects are catalogued as payloads. Screening continues as new element sets arrive; operators act on their own conjunction data.

The Two Objects

Dossiers from the satellite directory
NORAD 68196
CountryPRC
Launched2026-03-15
COSPAR2026-051A
Maneuver capableUnknown
NORAD 15077
CountryCIS
Launched1984-06-27
COSPAR1984-067A
Maneuver capableUnknown

Where This Happens

Altitude context
DEBRIS BELT 700–1000 KM2006001,0001,5002,000 kmTHIS PASS · 958 KMISS 420Starlink 550

At 958 km this pass sits inside the most congested band in low Earth orbit, home to the debris left by the 2007 ASAT test and the 2009 collision. Objects here stay up for decades: there is too little atmospheric drag to clean the band naturally. Why crowded bands matter →

History Between This Pair

1 predicted pass under 10 km
Pair history · YAOGAN-50 02 ⟷ COSMOS 1577
2026-11-11 01:019.02 km Final forecast13.07 km/s958 kmShown above

Repeat encounters are common for objects in near-intersecting orbital planes. Each pass is re-screened as fresh element sets arrive; "Final forecast" means the screening still predicted it within 45 minutes of its time, "Not re-confirmed" means later screening stopped finding it.

Forecast Record

Every figure published for the pass shown above, newest first. Nothing is overwritten: a withdrawn forecast keeps its figure, with the newer check beside it, and the best estimate after the pass is a row of its own.
Computed · figure · predicted time · orbit data · by
10 Nov 14:28 UTC9.02 km Forecast11 Nov 01:01 UTC10 Nov 04:52 UTCRe-check
10 Nov 13:33 UTC9.01 km Forecast11 Nov 01:01 UTC9 Nov 22:01 UTCScreen

These Objects Elsewhere

Other screened approaches · 7 days
2.19 km11-12 23:50 UTC
COSMOS 1577SDA_1667
4.40 km11-09 01:22 UTC
YAOGAN-50 02CZ-4B DEB
4.75 km11-06 02:13 UTC
YAOGAN-50 02THORAD AGENA D DEB

How These Numbers Are Computed

Miss distance and TCA come from propagating the latest published orbital elements for both objects and searching for the minimum separation over the screening window. Element sets carry kilometre-scale uncertainty, so figures here describe a close pass, not a collision prediction; a change in either object's published elements re-computes the pass automatically. What is a conjunction? → How conjunction assessment works →