COSMOS 2342

COSMOS 2342 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1997-05-14 from PKMTR. With over 29 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,910 km and 37,627 km with an inclination of 67.6°. It travels at approximately 13,925 km/h (3.87 km/s), completing one full orbit every 12 hours 1 minutes — that’s roughly 2.00 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6516 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 2342 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 2342 orbits at an average altitude of 20,269 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 2342’s average altitude, there are currently 4 active payloads and 18 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 67.6°, COSMOS 2342 passes over latitudes between 67.6°N and 67.6°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 4 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 2342.