Kosmos-981

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/10588

  • Communications satellite
  • Military
  • COSMOS 981
  • NORAD 10588
  • 1978-005F
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kosmos-981 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over Antarctica

Orbit ends over Antarctica

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kosmos-981 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.

Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.

No brightness has been published for Kosmos-981, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.

Seeing it

There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. What reaches you from it reaches a dish or an antenna, not an eye.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE

Where is Kosmos-981?

At 7:29:18 AM UTC Kosmos-981 was over the Atlantic Ocean (17° N, 51.5° W), 1,489 km up, moving at 7.12 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kosmos-981?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Jan 10, 1978.

Can I see Kosmos-981?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-981, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Main Space Forces Directorate
State
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Built by
NPO Applied Mechanics
What it is
Communications satellite
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
60 kg
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
Orbit class
Low Earth orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
7:29 AM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:29 AM UTC
Latitude / longitude
17° N, 51.5° W
Altitude
1,489 km
Speed
7.12 km/s (25,621 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight until 9:05 AM UTC
Inclination
74°
Orbital period
115.5 minutes
Orbits per day
12.46
This orbit
1,460 to 1,494 km
In shadow
13 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 3,010 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 10:00 PM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 10:00 PM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-981, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kosmos-981 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 2:43 PM, 9 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Kosmos-981 shares its launch, 1978-005, with 8 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
COSMOS 976Communications satellite
COSMOS 977Communications satellite
COSMOS 978Communications satellite
COSMOS 979Communications satellite
COSMOS 980Communications satellite
COSMOS 982Communications satellite
COSMOS 983Communications satellite
SL-8 R/BRocket body

Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.

Beside the others

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Kosmos-9811,460 to 1,494 km115 minutes60 kg1978
BlueWalker 3443 to 453 km94 minutesabout 1.5 t2022
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 10:00 PM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 981",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1978-005F",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T22:00:13.125312",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 12.46469097,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0021206,
  "INCLINATION": 74.0295,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 296.1361,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 281.5795,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 102.4032,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 10588,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 21829,
  "BSTAR": 0.000059854,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -7e-8,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}