COSMOS 1596

COSMOS 1596 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1984-09-07 from PKMTR. With over 42 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,361 km and 37,943 km with an inclination of 65.9°. It travels at approximately 13,956 km/h (3.88 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 57 minutes — that’s roughly 2.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6708 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1596 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1596 orbits at an average altitude of 20,152 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 1596’s average altitude, there are currently 100 active payloads and 13 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include GPS BIIR-5 (PRN 22), GPS BIIR-8 (PRN 16), GPS BIIR-11 (PRN 19). With an inclination of 65.9°, COSMOS 1596 passes over latitudes between 65.9°N and 65.9°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 53 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1596.