COSMOS 2286

COSMOS 2286 is an active satellite operated by PVO (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1994-08-05 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia on the Oko launch. With over 32 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 5,851 km and 34,467 km with an inclination of 66.9°. It travels at approximately 13,954 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 0.5393 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 2286 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 2286 orbits at an average altitude of 20,159 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 2286’s average altitude, there are currently 104 active payloads and 12 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 66.9°, COSMOS 2286 passes over latitudes between 66.9°N and 66.9°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 1,547 active satellites in total, of which 56 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 2286.