- Communications satellite
- Military
- COSMOS 468
- NORAD 5705
- 1971-114A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-468 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-468, 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
- Close approach
On Tuesday, Oct 13 at 4:39 PM UTC, a fragment of SL-16 (NORAD 22500) was to pass within 263 m of Cosmos 468 (NORAD 5705). The chance was about 1 in 1,000.
- Close approach
On Saturday, Oct 17 at 7:39 AM UTC, an unidentified object (NORAD 89003) was to pass within 237 m of Cosmos 468 (NORAD 5705). The chance was about 1 in 4,000.
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is Kosmos-468?
At 9:11:55 PM UTC Kosmos-468 was over the Atlantic Ocean (19.7° S, 36.5° W), 765 km up, moving at 7.48 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-468?
A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 17, 1971.
Can I see Kosmos-468?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-468, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.
General
- Operator
- OKB-10 (Reshetnev)
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- OKB-10 (Reshetnev)
- What it is
- Communications 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
- 9:11 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 9:11 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 19.7° S, 36.5° W
- Altitude
- 765 km
- Speed
- 7.48 km/s (26,914 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight until 9:20 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 74°
- Orbital period
- 100.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.37
- This orbit
- 756 to 778 km
- In shadow
- 25 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,050 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 7:55 AM, 13 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 7:55 AM, 13 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-468, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 2 reported. No close approach to Kosmos-468 is reported for the next three 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-468 shares its launch, 1971-114, with 5 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-8 R/B | Rocket body |
| SL-8 DEB | Debris |
| SL-8 DEB | Debris |
| SL-8 DEB | Debris |
| COSMOS 468 DEB | Debris |
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-468 | 756 to 778 km | 100 minutes | 800 kg | 1971 |
| 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, 7:55 AM, 13 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 468",
"OBJECT_ID": "1971-114A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T07:55:28.492896",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.36770994,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00153191,
"INCLINATION": 74.0182,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 336.4574,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 346.687,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 13.3876,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 5705,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 87191,
"BSTAR": 0.000068755606,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000177,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}