COSMOS 1191 DEB

COSMOS 1191 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1980-07-02 from PKMTR. With over 46 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 646 km and 39,947 km with an inclination of 62.9°. It travels at approximately 13,918 km/h (3.87 km/s), completing one full orbit every 12 hours 3 minutes — that’s roughly 1.99 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7369 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, COSMOS 1191 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 1191 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 20,297 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 1191 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 3 active payloads and 17 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 62.9°, COSMOS 1191 DEB passes over latitudes between 62.9°N and 62.9°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 3 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1191 DEB.