RADIO 2

RADIO 2 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1978-10-26 from PKMTR. With over 48 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,686 km and 1,705 km with an inclination of 82.5°. It travels at approximately 25,306 km/h (7.03 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours — that’s roughly 11.97 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks RADIO 2 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

RADIO 2 orbits at an average altitude of 1,696 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of RADIO 2’s average altitude, there are currently 19 active payloads and 60 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 82.5°, RADIO 2 passes over latitudes between 82.5°N and 82.5°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,285 active satellites in total, of which 7 share a similar altitude band with RADIO 2.