COSMOS 2401

COSMOS 2401 is an active satellite operated by Ministry of Defense (Russia (CIS)), launched on 2003-08-19 from PKMTR. With over 23 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,465 km and 1,501 km with an inclination of 82.5°. It travels at approximately 25,646 km/h (7.12 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.46 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 2401 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 2401 orbits at an average altitude of 1,483 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 2401’s average altitude, there are currently 295 active payloads and 256 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 82.5°, COSMOS 2401 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 287 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 2401.