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 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 569 km and 2,053 km with an inclination of 62.8°. It travels at approximately 25,932 km/h (7.20 km/s), completing one full orbit every 112 minutes — that’s roughly 12.88 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 1,311 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 374 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 21 active payloads and 375 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 62.8°, COSMOS 374 DEB passes over latitudes between 62.8°N and 62.8°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 6 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 374 DEB.