ELECTRON R/B

ELECTRON R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2026-08-20 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, New Zealand on the QPS-SAR-18 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 250 km and 507 km with an inclination of 42.0°. It travels at approximately 27,665 km/h (7.68 km/s), completing one full orbit every 92 minutes — that’s roughly 15.63 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is months to ~1 year. Spent rocket bodies like ELECTRON 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.

ELECTRON R/B orbits at an average altitude of 379 km in the lower reaches of Low Earth Orbit, where atmospheric drag is significant and orbital lifetimes are measured in months to a few years. This is the busiest corridor in space — home to crewed spacecraft, rapid-revisit imaging satellites and the densest part of the Starlink constellation. Within ±50 km of ELECTRON R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1,154 active payloads and 65 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ISS (ZARYA), STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 6.2% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 42.0°, ELECTRON R/B passes over latitudes between 42.0°N and 42.0°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. United States operates approximately 13,225 active satellites in total, of which 1,031 share a similar altitude band with ELECTRON R/B.