Kosmos-1972

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/19503

  • Navigation satellite
  • Military
  • COSMOS 1972 (GLONASS)
  • NORAD 19503
  • 1988-085C
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kosmos-1972 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over South Africa

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kosmos-1972 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-1972, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is Kosmos-1972?

At 5:35:57 PM UTC Kosmos-1972 was over the Pacific Ocean (41° S, 158.3° W), 19,131 km up, moving at 3.95 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kosmos-1972?

A navigation satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Sep 16, 1988.

Can I see Kosmos-1972?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-1972, and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.

General

Operator
Upravleniye Nachalnika Kosmicheskikh Sredstv
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
about 1.3 t
Operating
Orbit class
Medium 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
5:35 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:35 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
41° S, 158.3° W
Altitude
19,131 km
Speed
3.95 km/s (14,234 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
65.2°
Orbital period
675.7 minutes
Orbits per day
2.13
This orbit
19,115 to 19,144 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,310 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 1:59 AM, 15 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 1:59 AM, 15 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-1972, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kosmos-1972 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Kosmos-1972 shares its launch, 1988-085, with 5 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
COSMOS 1970 (GLONASS)Navigation satellite
COSMOS 1971 (GLONASS)Navigation satellite
SL-12 R/B(2)Rocket body
SL-12 R/B(AUX MOTOR)Rocket body
SL-12 R/B(AUX MOTOR)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, 1:59 AM, 15 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 1972 (GLONASS)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1988-085C",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T01:59:56.268960",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 2.13102363,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00055551,
  "INCLINATION": 65.186,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 309.951,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 204.9062,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 242.6251,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 19503,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 29670,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -4.7e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}