COSMOS 860 COOLANT

COSMOS 860 COOLANT is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1976-10-17 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After more than 50 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 861 km and 926 km with an inclination of 64.7°. It travels at approximately 26,667 km/h (7.41 km/s), completing one full orbit every 103 minutes — that’s roughly 14.00 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~100–500 years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 860 COOLANT 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 860 COOLANT orbits at an average altitude of 894 km in the upper LEO band, where atmospheric drag is negligible and objects can persist for centuries to millennia. This altitude is used by broadband constellations like OneWeb and by scientific missions requiring stable orbits far from the densest debris bands. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 860 COOLANT’s average altitude, there are currently 183 active payloads and 1,465 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 64.7°, COSMOS 860 COOLANT passes over latitudes between 64.7°N and 64.7°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 55 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 860 COOLANT.