COSMOS 1323

COSMOS 1323 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1981-11-28 from PKMTR. With over 45 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,481 km and 1,624 km with an inclination of 74.0°. It travels at approximately 25,534 km/h (7.09 km/s), completing one full orbit every 117 minutes — that’s roughly 12.29 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1323 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1323 orbits at an average altitude of 1,553 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 COSMOS 1323’s average altitude, there are currently 44 active payloads and 243 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 74.0°, COSMOS 1323 passes over latitudes between 74.0°N and 74.0°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 29 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1323.