COSMOS 374 DEB *

COSMOS 374 DEB * is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1970-10-23 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on the I2P launch. After more than 56 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 716 km and 1,700 km with an inclination of 63.3°. It travels at approximately 26,108 km/h (7.25 km/s), completing one full orbit every 110 minutes — that’s roughly 13.14 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 374 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 374 DEB * orbits at an average altitude of 1,208 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 374 DEB *’s average altitude, there are currently 742 active payloads and 279 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 63.3°, COSMOS 374 DEB * passes over latitudes between 63.3°N and 63.3°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 1,535 active satellites in total, of which 15 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 374 DEB *.