CLASSIFIED
COSMOS 2552 (EKS 5)
Russian Nuclear Missile Early Warning Satellite (Tundra/EKS) · Russian Aerospace Forces
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Cosmos 2552 is supposed to be one of the satellites that tells the Kremlin whether a nuclear missile is inbound. It's part of Russia's Tundra/EKS early-warning constellation — meant to field ten satellites, watching for the infrared flash of a launch from a highly elliptical orbit. As of the most recent independent orbital tracking, the entire network may be down to one or two confirmed-operational satellites. This one is among the small handful still believed to be working.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Highly Ellipticalswings far out, then dives back close to Earth
- Altitude
- 1,978–23,109 mi (3,183–37,191 km)
- Inclination
- 62.8°
- One orbit
- 12.0 hours2.0 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 49503
- Int’l designator
- 2021-113A
- Launched
- 2021
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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