COSMOS 2024 (ETALON 2)

COSMOS 2024 (ETALON 2) is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1989-05-31 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. With over 37 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 19,070 km and 19,174 km with an inclination of 65.0°. It travels at approximately 14,235 km/h (3.95 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 15 minutes — that’s roughly 2.13 orbits per day. It is part of the Geodetic constellation group. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 2024 (ETALON 2) in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 2024 (ETALON 2) operates in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), the region between LEO and GEO spanning roughly 2,000 to 35,786 km altitude. MEO is home to navigation constellations (GPS at ~20,200 km, Galileo at ~23,222 km, GLONASS at ~19,130 km) and some communications systems. The higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer satellites are needed for global coverage, but signal latency is higher and radiation exposure — particularly from the Van Allen belts — is a significant design challenge.