DELTA 1 R/B

DELTA 1 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1965-11-06 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the GEOS A 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 1,120 km and 2,264 km with an inclination of 59.4°. It travels at approximately 25,312 km/h (7.03 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours — that’s roughly 11.98 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Spent rocket bodies like DELTA 1 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.

DELTA 1 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 1,692 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 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 21 active payloads and 84 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 59.4°, DELTA 1 R/B passes over latitudes between 59.4°N and 59.4°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. United States operates approximately 13,206 active satellites in total, of which 3 share a similar altitude band with DELTA 1 R/B.