COSMOS 1109

COSMOS 1109 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1979-06-27 from PKMTR. With over 47 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 4,201 km and 36,023 km with an inclination of 70.7°. It travels at approximately 13,967 km/h (3.88 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 55 minutes — that’s roughly 2.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6008 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1109 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1109 orbits at an average altitude of 20,112 km in Medium Earth Orbit, the region between LEO and GEO (2,000–35,786 km). MEO’s higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer spacecraft are needed for global coverage — but signal latency is higher and radiation from the Van Allen belts is a significant design constraint. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 1109’s average altitude, there are currently 14 active payloads and 17 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 70.7°, COSMOS 1109 passes over latitudes between 70.7°N and 70.7°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,286 active satellites in total, of which 13 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1109.