MUNIN

MUNIN is an active satellite operated by IRF Kiruna (Sweden), launched on 2000-11-21 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the Earth Orbiter 1 launch. With over 26 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 703 km and 1,783 km with an inclination of 95.4°. It travels at approximately 26,047 km/h (7.24 km/s), completing one full orbit every 110 minutes — that’s roughly 13.05 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks MUNIN in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

MUNIN orbits at an average altitude of 1,243 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 MUNIN’s average altitude, there are currently 471 active payloads and 402 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 95.4°, MUNIN passes over latitudes between 95.4°N and 95.4°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. Sweden operates approximately 15 active satellites in total.