COSMOS 1481 DEB

COSMOS 1481 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to 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 5,177 km and 34,739 km with an inclination of 70.5°. It travels at approximately 14,007 km/h (3.89 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 49 minutes — that’s roughly 2.03 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5614 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, COSMOS 1481 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 1481 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 19,958 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 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 6 active payloads and 21 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 DEB 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 1,286 active satellites in total, of which 3 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1481 DEB.