COSMOS 839 DEB

COSMOS 839 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1976-07-08 from PKMTR on the Lira launch. After more than 50 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 981 km and 1,976 km with an inclination of 66.0°. It travels at approximately 25,654 km/h (7.13 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.47 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 839 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 839 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,479 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 839 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 303 active payloads and 250 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 66.0°, COSMOS 839 DEB passes over latitudes between 66.0°N and 66.0°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 1,287 active satellites in total, of which 295 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 839 DEB.