DELTA 1 DEB

DELTA 1 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1981-08-03 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the DE A launch. With over 45 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 502 km and 21,058 km with an inclination of 90.7°. It travels at approximately 17,355 km/h (4.82 km/s), completing one full orbit every 6 hours 13 minutes — that’s roughly 3.86 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5993 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. 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 10,780 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 1 active payload 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 90.7°, DELTA 1 DEB passes over latitudes between 90.7°N and 90.7°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. United States operates approximately 12,358 active satellites in total.