Kosmos-252

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/3530

  • Military
  • COSMOS 252
  • NORAD 3530
  • 1968-097A
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kosmos-252 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
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Orbit began over Hudson Bay

Orbit ends over Canada

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kosmos-252 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-252, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is Kosmos-252?

At 6:41:15 PM UTC Kosmos-252 was over the Indian Ocean (55.3° S, 57.5° E), 2,068 km up, moving at 6.53 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kosmos-252?

A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Nov 1, 1968.

Can I see Kosmos-252?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-252, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
Space Defence Force, USSR Armed Forces
State
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Built by
Machine Building Special Design Bureau
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
about 1.4 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, 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
6:41 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:41 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
55.3° S, 57.5° E
Altitude
2,068 km
Speed
6.53 km/s (23,512 km/h)
Course
south-east
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
62.3°
Orbital period
111.8 minutes
Orbits per day
12.88
This orbit
528 to 2,086 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 3,560 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 12:43 AM, 17 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:43 AM, 17 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-252, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Kosmos-252 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-252 shares its launch, 1968-097, with 34 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris
COSMOS 252 DEBDebris

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, 12:43 AM, 17 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 252",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1968-097A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:43:05.323008",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 12.88340241,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.10139658,
  "INCLINATION": 62.3145,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 158.6972,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 84.3181,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 287.2357,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 3530,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 72448,
  "BSTAR": 0.000083248476,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000125,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}