Communications
MERIDIAN 8
Russian Military/Civil Communications (Molniya Orbit) · Roscosmos / Russian Ministry of Defence
Right now
LiveIt moves every second. See exactly where it is — worked out from its orbit, on your own device — on the live 3D globe.
- Over
- —
- Altitude
- —
- Speed
- —
Meridian 8, part of Russia's Meridian series of satellites providing military and civilian communications from a highly elliptical Molniya-type orbit — a design inherited from the Soviet-era Molniya program, chosen specifically because it lets a satellite linger for hours over Russia's high northern latitudes where geostationary satellites appear too low on the horizon to provide reliable coverage. Meridian satellites relay naval, maritime, and Arctic communications across Russia's vast northern territories, including the increasingly important Northern Sea Route shipping corridor.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Highly Ellipticalswings far out, then dives back close to Earth
- Altitude
- 826–24,258 mi (1,330–39,039 km)
- Inclination
- 63.2°
- One orbit
- 12.0 hours2.0 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 44453
- Int’l designator
- 2019-046A
- Launched
- 2019
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More communications
- MERIDIAN 9Russian Military/Civil Communications (Molniya Orbit)
- MOZHAETS 4 (RS22)Russian Military Academy Technology Demonstrator
- NINGXIA-1 1Chinese Commercial Satellite (Assessed RF Spectrum Monitoring)
- NINGXIA-1 10Chinese Commercial Satellite (Assessed RF Spectrum Monitoring)
- NINGXIA-1 2Chinese Commercial Satellite (Assessed RF Spectrum Monitoring)
- NINGXIA-1 3Chinese Commercial Satellite (Assessed RF Spectrum Monitoring)