COSMOS 1481

COSMOS 1481 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1983-07-08 from PKMTR. With over 43 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 5,111 km and 34,727 km with an inclination of 70.5°. It travels at approximately 14,018 km/h (3.89 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 47 minutes — that’s roughly 2.04 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5633 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1481 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1481 orbits at an average altitude of 19,919 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 1481’s average altitude, there are currently 4 active payloads and 27 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 70.5°, COSMOS 1481 passes over latitudes between 70.5°N and 70.5°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 1,285 active satellites in total.