SL-8 DEB

SL-8 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1991-02-12 from PKMTR. With over 35 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,464 km and 1,836 km with an inclination of 74.2°. It travels at approximately 25,378 km/h (7.05 km/s), completing one full orbit every 119 minutes — that’s roughly 12.07 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, SL-8 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.

SL-8 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,650 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of SL-8 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 23 active payloads and 111 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 74.2°, SL-8 DEB passes over latitudes between 74.2°N and 74.2°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,287 active satellites in total, of which 11 share a similar altitude band with SL-8 DEB.