DELTA 1 DEB

DELTA 1 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1977-07-14 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the GMS launch. With over 49 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 909 km and 2,368 km with an inclination of 28.7°. It travels at approximately 25,396 km/h (7.05 km/s), completing one full orbit every 119 minutes — that’s roughly 12.10 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, DELTA 1 DEB poses a potential collision risk to operational satellites in nearby orbits and is continuously monitored by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and other tracking systems.

DELTA 1 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,639 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 DELTA 1 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 22 active payloads and 144 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 28.7°, DELTA 1 DEB passes over latitudes between 28.7°N and 28.7°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 12,455 active satellites in total.