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COSMOS 2481 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 38733)
Track COSMOS 2481 (NORAD catalog number 38733) live on the WatchSat interactive 3D globe above. Its position is propagated in real time from the latest CelesTrak two-line element set using the SGP4/SDP4 orbital model — the same math professional trackers run. It has been on orbit since 2012, launched on the 41st orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2012-041A). It went up together with 2 other satellites from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 63,994 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.13 km/s, COSMOS 2481 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 1,489 × 1,518 km, completing one revolution every 115.9 minutes — about 12.4 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0018). Inclined 82.5° — nearly pole-to-pole — its ground track sweeps essentially every latitude. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 24.0°. Earth's equatorial bulge drifts that plane westward about 0.62° per day.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~1,489 km × 1,518 km |
| Inclination | 82.48° |
| Orbital period | 115.9 min (12.42 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00179 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2012-041A |
| NORAD catalog number | 38733 |
This page's orbital elements come from the CelesTrak catalog of 2026-09-08. The live 3D view above fetches its own current CelesTrak data when the page opens, through an edge cache that refreshes roughly every 30 minutes.
About the Other Active Satellites group
COSMOS 2481 is one of 4,471 active satellites in WatchSat's general catalog — the broad population of Earth-observation, communications, science, amateur-radio and technology spacecraft outside the giant broadband constellations. Browse all other active satellites live in 3D.
Can you see COSMOS 2481 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, COSMOS 2481 is visible only around dawn and dusk, when your sky is dark but the satellite is still sunlit — and whether you can spot it depends on its size and reflectivity. See pass predictions for your location for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of COSMOS 2481 in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- GONETS-M 3 (NORAD 38734)
- GONETS-M 4 (NORAD 38736)
- INTELSAT 20 (IS-20) (NORAD 38740)
- HYLAS 2 (NORAD 38741)
- EXPRESS-MD2 (NORAD 38745)
- INTELSAT 21 (IS-21) (NORAD 38749)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe