COSMOS 2143 DEB

COSMOS 2143 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1991-05-16 from PKMTR. With over 35 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,393 km and 1,398 km with an inclination of 82.6°. It travels at approximately 25,790 km/h (7.16 km/s), completing one full orbit every 114 minutes — that’s roughly 12.67 orbits per day. Its near-circular orbit (eccentricity close to zero) means it maintains a very consistent altitude throughout each revolution. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 2143 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 2143 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,396 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 2143 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 229 active payloads and 160 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 82.6°, COSMOS 2143 DEB passes over latitudes between 82.6°N and 82.6°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 195 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 2143 DEB.