Home › Other Active Satellites › COSMOS 2538
COSMOS 2538 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 44424)
Track COSMOS 2538 (NORAD catalog number 44424) 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 is object D of 2019's 39th orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2019-039D). As of this element set it had completed roughly 39,238 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.64 km/s, COSMOS 2538 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 479 × 538 km, completing one revolution every 94.6 minutes — about 15.2 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0043). Its 97.6° retrograde, near-polar inclination is characteristic of a Sun-synchronous orbit — the type Earth-imaging and weather satellites use to revisit each spot at the same local solar time. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 330.3°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 1.01° per day, matching the Sun's apparent motion — which is what holds its lighting constant.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~479 km × 538 km |
| Inclination | 97.58° |
| Orbital period | 94.6 min (15.21 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00427 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2019-039D |
| NORAD catalog number | 44424 |
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 2538 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 2538 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, COSMOS 2538 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 2538 in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- MOMENTUS-X1 (NORAD 44408)
- YAOGAN-30 06A (NORAD 44449)
- YAOGAN-30 06B (NORAD 44450)
- YAOGAN-30 06C (NORAD 44451)
- MERIDIAN 8 (NORAD 44453)
- COSMOS 2539 (NORAD 44457)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe