WESTFORD NEEDLES

WESTFORD NEEDLES is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1963-05-09 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the Midas ETS-III F2 launch. After more than 63 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 3,617 km and 3,674 km with an inclination of 87.4°. It travels at approximately 22,710 km/h (6.31 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours 46 minutes — that’s roughly 8.65 orbits per day. As orbital debris, WESTFORD NEEDLES 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.

WESTFORD NEEDLES orbits at an average altitude of 3,646 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 WESTFORD NEEDLES’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 87.4°, WESTFORD NEEDLES passes over latitudes between 87.4°N and 87.4°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 12,671 active satellites in total.