COSMOS 1217

COSMOS 1217 is an active satellite operated by PVO (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1980-10-24 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia on the Oko launch. With over 46 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 4,802 km and 35,486 km with an inclination of 70.2°. It travels at approximately 13,958 km/h (3.88 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 56 minutes — that’s roughly 2.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5786 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1217 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1217 orbits at an average altitude of 20,144 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 1217’s average altitude, there are currently 97 active payloads and 14 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 70.2°, COSMOS 1217 passes over latitudes between 70.2°N and 70.2°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 1,536 active satellites in total, of which 50 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1217.