INTERCOSMOS 24

INTERCOSMOS 24 is an active satellite operated by Russia (CIS), launched on 1989-09-28 from PKMTR. With over 37 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 499 km and 2,351 km with an inclination of 82.6°. It travels at approximately 25,742 km/h (7.15 km/s), completing one full orbit every 114 minutes — that’s roughly 12.60 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1188 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 INTERCOSMOS 24 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

INTERCOSMOS 24 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.