COSMOS 1743

COSMOS 1743 is an active satellite operated by GRU (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1986-05-15 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia on the Tselina-D launch. With over 40 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 314 km and 321 km with an inclination of 82.5°. It travels at approximately 27,791 km/h (7.72 km/s), completing one full orbit every 91 minutes — that’s roughly 15.85 orbits per day. Its near-circular orbit (eccentricity close to zero) means it maintains a very consistent altitude throughout each revolution. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is months to ~1 year. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 1743 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 1743 orbits at an average altitude of 318 km in the lower reaches of Low Earth Orbit, where atmospheric drag is significant and orbital lifetimes are measured in months to a few years. This is the busiest corridor in space — home to crewed spacecraft, rapid-revisit imaging satellites and the densest part of the Starlink constellation. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 1743’s average altitude, there are currently 982 active payloads and 28 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012, STARLINK-1020. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 5.2% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 82.5°, COSMOS 1743 passes over latitudes between 82.5°N and 82.5°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 1,550 active satellites in total, of which 16 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1743.