COSMOS 1285 DEB

COSMOS 1285 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1981-08-04 from PKMTR. With over 45 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 529 km and 40,221 km with an inclination of 63.0°. It travels at approximately 13,898 km/h (3.86 km/s), completing one full orbit every 12 hours 6 minutes — that’s roughly 1.98 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7420 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, COSMOS 1285 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 1285 DEB follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 529 km (perigee) and 40,221 km (apogee). It spends most of its 12 hours 6 minutes orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 1285 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 2 active payloads and 7 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 63.0°, COSMOS 1285 DEB passes over latitudes between 63.0°N and 63.0°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.