- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- COSMOS 409
- NORAD 5180
- 1971-038A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Pacific Ocean
Orbit ends over the South China Sea
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-409 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-409, 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 it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is Kosmos-409?
At 10:35:55 PM UTC Kosmos-409 was over the Atlantic Ocean (31.7° S, 41.4° W), 1,221 km up, moving at 7.24 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-409?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Apr 28, 1971.
Can I see Kosmos-409?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-409, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- OKB-10 (Reshetnev)
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- OKB-10 (Reshetnev)
- What it is
- Earth-watching 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
- 10:35 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 10:35 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 31.7° S, 41.4° W
- Altitude
- 1,221 km
- Speed
- 7.24 km/s (26,046 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 74°
- Orbital period
- 109.3 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.18
- This orbit
- 1,174 to 1,208 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,700 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 12:25 AM, 22 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 12:25 AM, 22 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-409, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Kosmos-409 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-409 shares its launch, 1971-038, 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kosmos-409 | 1,174 to 1,208 km | 109 minutes | 800 kg | 1971 |
| Sentinel-6MF | 1,332 to 1,344 km | 112 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2020 |
| Sentinel-6B | 1,332 to 1,344 km | 112 minutes | about 1.2 t | 2025 |
| Sentinel-5P | 826 to 828 km | 101 minutes | 820 kg | 2017 |
| Suomi NPP | 825 to 829 km | 101 minutes | about 2.1 t | 2011 |
| MetOp-SG A1 | 820 to 821 km | 101 minutes | about 4 t | 2025 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 12:25 AM, 22 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 409",
"OBJECT_ID": "1971-038A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T00:25:30.545760",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.17848488,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00226398,
"INCLINATION": 73.9996,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 156.9294,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 16.9081,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 134.4724,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 5180,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 67119,
"BSTAR": -0.00047575334,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000205,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}