- Communications satellite
- Military
- COSMOS 1636
- NORAD 15618
- 1985-023B
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-1636 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-1636, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Russia LIVE
Where is Kosmos-1636?
At 6:46:14 PM UTC Kosmos-1636 was over Russia (70.7° N, 145.5° E), 1,499 km up, moving at 7.12 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-1636?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Mar 21, 1985.
Can I see Kosmos-1636?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-1636, 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
- 6:46 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:46 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 70.7° N, 145.5° E
- Altitude
- 1,499 km
- Speed
- 7.12 km/s (25,632 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In sunlight until 8:10 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 74.1°
- Orbital period
- 115.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 12.45
- This orbit
- 1,472 to 1,492 km
- In shadow
- 24 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 3,020 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 8:38 AM, 8 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 8:38 AM, 10 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-1636, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Kosmos-1636 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-1636 shares its launch, 1985-023, with 8 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| COSMOS 1635 | Communications satellite |
| COSMOS 1637 | Communications satellite |
| COSMOS 1638 | Communications satellite |
| COSMOS 1639 | Communications satellite |
| COSMOS 1640 | Communications satellite |
| COSMOS 1641 | Communications satellite |
| COSMOS 1642 | Communications satellite |
| 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kosmos-1636 | 1,472 to 1,492 km | 116 minutes | 60 kg | 1985 |
| BlueWalker 3 | 443 to 453 km | 94 minutes | about 1.5 t | 2022 |
| Hispasat 30W-6 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 6.1 t | 2018 |
| Amazonas Nexus | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2023 |
| ARSAT-1 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3 t | 2014 |
| Astra 1N | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.3 t | 2011 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 8:38 AM, 8 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 1636",
"OBJECT_ID": "1985-023B",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T08:38:54.981312",
"MEAN_MOTION": 12.45359569,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00130375,
"INCLINATION": 74.0572,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 349.7458,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 208.1256,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 163.0236,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 15618,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 89282,
"BSTAR": 0.00013147803,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 3e-8,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}