CZ-3B R/B

CZ-3B R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2026-07-23 from Xichang, China on the Tianlian 2-06 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 199 km and 35,973 km with an inclination of 26.1°. It travels at approximately 14,533 km/h (4.04 km/s), completing one full orbit every 10 hours 35 minutes — that’s roughly 2.26 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7314 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like CZ-3B R/B are among the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris and are priority targets for collision avoidance manoeuvres and future active debris removal efforts.

CZ-3B R/B orbits at an average altitude of 18,086 km in Medium Earth Orbit, the region between LEO and GEO (2,000–35,786 km). MEO’s higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer spacecraft are needed for global coverage — but signal latency is higher and radiation from the Van Allen belts is a significant design constraint. Within ±50 km of CZ-3B R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 25 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 26.1°, CZ-3B R/B passes over latitudes between 26.1°N and 26.1°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. China operates approximately 1,249 active satellites in total.