COSMOS 2499 DEB

COSMOS 2499 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 2014-05-23 from PKMTR. After 12 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,161 km and 1,238 km with an inclination of 82.3°. It travels at approximately 26,122 km/h (7.26 km/s), completing one full orbit every 109 minutes — that’s roughly 13.16 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~500–1,000 years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 2499 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 2499 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,200 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 2499 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 735 active payloads and 206 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 82.3°, COSMOS 2499 DEB passes over latitudes between 82.3°N and 82.3°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 8 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 2499 DEB.