INTERCOSMOS 24

INTERCOSMOS 24 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1989-09-28 from PKMTR. With over 37 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 497 km and 2,352 km with an inclination of 82.6°. It travels at approximately 25,742 km/h (7.15 km/s), completing one full orbit every 114 minutes — that’s roughly 12.60 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1190 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks INTERCOSMOS 24 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

INTERCOSMOS 24 orbits at an average altitude of 1,425 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 INTERCOSMOS 24’s average altitude, there are currently 322 active payloads and 157 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 82.6°, INTERCOSMOS 24 passes over latitudes between 82.6°N and 82.6°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 1,286 active satellites in total, of which 287 share a similar altitude band with INTERCOSMOS 24.