COSMOS 375 DEB

COSMOS 375 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1970-10-30 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After more than 56 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 578 km and 1,821 km with an inclination of 62.9°. It travels at approximately 26,122 km/h (7.26 km/s), completing one full orbit every 109 minutes — that’s roughly 13.16 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~500–1,000 years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 375 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 375 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,200 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 375 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 735 active payloads and 206 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 62.9°, COSMOS 375 DEB passes over latitudes between 62.9°N and 62.9°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 8 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 375 DEB.