TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE DEB

TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1965-10-15 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the LCS 2 launch. After more than 61 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 512 km and 516 km with an inclination of 31.9°. It travels at approximately 27,392 km/h (7.61 km/s), completing one full orbit every 95 minutes — that’s roughly 15.17 orbits per day. Its near-circular orbit (eccentricity close to zero) means it maintains a very consistent altitude throughout each revolution. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. As orbital debris, TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE 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.

TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE DEB orbits at an average altitude of 514 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 7,196 active payloads and 269 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1231, STARLINK-1276. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 38.5% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 31.9°, TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE DEB passes over latitudes between 31.9°N and 31.9°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 13,196 active satellites in total, of which 6,524 share a similar altitude band with TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE DEB.