- Navigation satellite
- Military
- COSMOS 991
- NORAD 10692
- 1978-022A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Southern Ocean
Orbit ends over the Southern Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-991 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-991, 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 far too high and too faint for the naked eye. What you notice of it is a position fix, and the card above says whether it is above your horizon to give you one.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Southern Ocean LIVE
Where is Kosmos-991?
At 6:37:02 PM UTC Kosmos-991 was over the Southern Ocean (62.3° S, 6.3° E), 974 km up, moving at 7.38 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-991?
A navigation satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Feb 28, 1978.
Can I see Kosmos-991?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-991, and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.
General
- Operator
- Soviet Navy
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- Omsk Aviation Plant
- What it is
- Navigation satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 800 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
- 6:37 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:37 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 62.3° S, 6.3° E
- Altitude
- 974 km
- Speed
- 7.38 km/s (26,557 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 83°
- Orbital period
- 104.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.77
- This orbit
- 947 to 999 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,370 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 6:04 AM, 12 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:04 AM, 12 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-991, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Kosmos-991 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 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.
Launched with
Kosmos-991 shares its launch, 1978-022, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-8 R/B | Rocket 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.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 6:04 AM, 12 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 991",
"OBJECT_ID": "1978-022A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:04:40.252224",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.76581904,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00352436,
"INCLINATION": 82.9857,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 140.3727,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 244.3981,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 290.7965,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 10692,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 44519,
"BSTAR": 0.000066065943,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 8e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}