COSMOS 2391

COSMOS 2391 is an active satellite operated by Ministry of Defense (Russia (CIS)), launched on 2002-07-08 from PKMTR. With over 24 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,466 km and 1,506 km with an inclination of 82.5°. It travels at approximately 25,641 km/h (7.12 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.45 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 2391 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 2391 orbits at an average altitude of 1,486 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 COSMOS 2391’s average altitude, there are currently 286 active payloads and 255 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 82.5°, COSMOS 2391 passes over latitudes between 82.5°N and 82.5°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 278 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 2391.