Kosmos-617

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/6985

  • Communications satellite
  • Military
  • COSMOS 617
  • NORAD 6985
  • 1973-104A
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kosmos-617 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kosmos-617 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-617, 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

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

  2. Close approach

    On Sunday, Oct 25 at 7:56 AM UTC, a fragment of Delta 1 (NORAD 26838) was to pass within 161 m of Cosmos 617 (NORAD 6985). The chance was about 1 in 9,000.

Summary

Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is Kosmos-617?

At 7:07:40 AM UTC Kosmos-617 was over the Pacific Ocean (1.6° N, 135° W), 1,346 km up, moving at 7.22 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Kosmos-617?

A communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 19, 1973.

Can I see Kosmos-617?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-617, and nothing here estimates one; the dishes and receivers on the ground use its signals instead.

General

Operator
Main Space Forces Directorate
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
60 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
7:07 AM UTC
Station time (UTC)
7:07 AM UTC
Latitude / longitude
1.6° N, 135° W
Altitude
1,346 km
Speed
7.22 km/s (25,974 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 7:20 AM UTC
Inclination
74°
Orbital period
114 minutes
Orbits per day
12.64
This orbit
1,331 to 1,481 km
In shadow
32 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,850 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 4:24 AM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 4:24 AM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-617, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
1 reported. No close approach to Kosmos-617 is reported for the next three days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 2:43 PM, 9 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-617 shares its launch, 1973-104, with 8 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
COSMOS 618Communications satellite
COSMOS 619Communications satellite
COSMOS 620Communications satellite
COSMOS 621Communications satellite
COSMOS 622Communications satellite
COSMOS 623Communications satellite
COSMOS 624Communications satellite
SL-8 R/BRocket 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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Kosmos-6171,331 to 1,481 km114 minutes60 kg1973
BlueWalker 3443 to 453 km94 minutesabout 1.5 t2022
Hispasat 30W-635,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 6.1 t2018
Amazonas Nexus35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 4.1 t2023
ARSAT-135,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 3 t2014
Astra 1N35,786 to 35,786 km1,436 minutesabout 5.3 t2011

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 4:24 AM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 617",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1973-104A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T04:24:57.885984",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 12.63533865,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00964774,
  "INCLINATION": 74.0294,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 202.3397,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 210.3043,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 307.4922,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 6985,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 43941,
  "BSTAR": 0.000094731945,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 1e-8,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}