RADIO 3

RADIO 3 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1981-12-17 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 1,565 km and 1,656 km with an inclination of 83.0°. It travels at approximately 25,441 km/h (7.07 km/s), completing one full orbit every 118 minutes — that’s roughly 12.16 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks RADIO 3 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

RADIO 3 orbits at an average altitude of 1,611 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 RADIO 3’s average altitude, there are currently 28 active payloads and 193 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 83.0°, RADIO 3 passes over latitudes between 83.0°N and 83.0°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,286 active satellites in total, of which 13 share a similar altitude band with RADIO 3.