COSMOS 1247 DEB

COSMOS 1247 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1981-02-19 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 3,865 km and 36,132 km with an inclination of 69.5°. It travels at approximately 13,997 km/h (3.89 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 51 minutes — that’s roughly 2.03 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6118 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, COSMOS 1247 DEB poses a potential collision risk to operational satellites in nearby orbits and is continuously monitored by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and other tracking systems.

COSMOS 1247 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 19,999 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 1247 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 3 active payloads and 13 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 69.5°, COSMOS 1247 DEB passes over latitudes between 69.5°N and 69.5°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 3 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1247 DEB.