COSMOS 1729

COSMOS 1729 is an active satellite operated by PVO (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1986-02-01 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia on the Oko launch. With over 40 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 7,997 km and 32,360 km with an inclination of 71.0°. It travels at approximately 13,949 km/h (3.87 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 58 minutes — that’s roughly 2.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4588 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1729 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1729 orbits at an average altitude of 20,179 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 1729’s average altitude, there are currently 103 active payloads and 16 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 71.0°, COSMOS 1729 passes over latitudes between 71.0°N and 71.0°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 1,536 active satellites in total, of which 54 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1729.