COSMOS 1305

COSMOS 1305 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1981-09-11 from PKMTR. With over 45 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 565 km and 13,916 km with an inclination of 62.8°. It travels at approximately 19,481 km/h (5.41 km/s), completing one full orbit every 4 hours 24 minutes — that’s roughly 5.46 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4904 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1305 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1305 orbits at an average altitude of 7,241 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 1305’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 6 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 62.8°, COSMOS 1305 passes over latitudes between 62.8°N and 62.8°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 1,285 active satellites in total.