COSMOS 1408 DEB

COSMOS 1408 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1982-09-16 from PKMTR on the Tselina-D launch. With over 44 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 414 km and 433 km with an inclination of 82.6°. It travels at approximately 27,574 km/h (7.66 km/s), completing one full orbit every 93 minutes — that’s roughly 15.48 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~1–3 years. As orbital debris, COSMOS 1408 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 1408 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 424 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 1408 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 3,502 active payloads and 134 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012, STARLINK-1017. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 20% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 82.6°, COSMOS 1408 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 43 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 1408 DEB.