EXPRESS MD2

EXPRESS MD2 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 2012-08-06 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on the Telkom-3 launch. After 14 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 258 km and 2,722 km with an inclination of 49.8°. It travels at approximately 25,635 km/h (7.12 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.44 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1567 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks EXPRESS MD2 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

EXPRESS MD2 orbits at an average altitude of 1,490 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 EXPRESS MD2’s average altitude, there are currently 269 active payloads and 256 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 49.8°, EXPRESS MD2 passes over latitudes between 49.8°N and 49.8°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,286 active satellites in total, of which 260 share a similar altitude band with EXPRESS MD2.