CZ-3 DEB

CZ-3 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to China, launched on 1986-02-01 from Xichang, China on the DFH-2 launch. With over 40 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 402 km and 23,393 km with an inclination of 31.2°. It travels at approximately 16,816 km/h (4.67 km/s), completing one full orbit every 6 hours 50 minutes — that’s roughly 3.51 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6293 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, CZ-3 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.

CZ-3 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 11,898 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 CZ-3 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 2 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 31.2°, CZ-3 DEB passes over latitudes between 31.2°N and 31.2°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. China operates approximately 1,218 active satellites in total.