TITAN 3A TRANSTAGE R/B

TITAN 3A TRANSTAGE R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1965-05-06 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the LES 2 launch. After more than 61 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,785 km and 3,741 km with an inclination of 32.1°. It travels at approximately 23,156 km/h (6.43 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours 37 minutes — that’s roughly 9.17 orbits per day. Spent rocket bodies like TITAN 3A TRANSTAGE 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.

TITAN 3A TRANSTAGE R/B orbits at an average altitude of 3,263 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 TITAN 3A TRANSTAGE R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 3 active payloads and 7 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 32.1°, TITAN 3A TRANSTAGE R/B passes over latitudes between 32.1°N and 32.1°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. United States operates approximately 13,279 active satellites in total.