- Military
- COSMOS 1903
- NORAD 18701
- 1987-105A
- Highly elliptical orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Norwegian Sea
Orbit ends over Russia
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-1903 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-1903, 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 to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is Kosmos-1903?
At 5:21:31 PM UTC Kosmos-1903 was over the Indian Ocean (7.8° S, 62.6° E), 16,250 km up, moving at 4.5 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-1903?
A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Dec 21, 1987.
Can I see Kosmos-1903?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-1903, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- Proto-Vozdhusnoy Oborony
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- NPO Lavochkin
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.3 t
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Highly elliptical orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, 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
- 5:21 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:21 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 7.8° S, 62.6° E
- Altitude
- 16,250 km
- Speed
- 4.5 km/s (16,186 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 69°
- Orbital period
- 717.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 2.01
- This orbit
- 8,495 to 31,827 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,110 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 9, 2026, 2:27 AM, 14 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 9, 2026, 2:27 AM, 14 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-1903, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Kosmos-1903 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 9, 2026, 1:50 PM, 2 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-1903 shares its launch, 1987-105, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-6 R/B(2) | 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 9, 2026, 2:27 AM, 14 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 1903",
"OBJECT_ID": "1987-105A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-09T02:27:15.906816",
"MEAN_MOTION": 2.00792294,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.43957082,
"INCLINATION": 69.0335,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 188.9358,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 91.3399,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 317.7935,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 18701,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 28558,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000138,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}