USA 125 DEB

USA 125 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1996-07-03 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the QUASAR 11? launch. With over 30 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 372 km and 13,747 km with an inclination of 55.3°. It travels at approximately 19,612 km/h (5.45 km/s), completing one full orbit every 4 hours 18 minutes — that’s roughly 5.57 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4979 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, USA 125 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.

USA 125 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 7,060 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 USA 125 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 6 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 55.3°, USA 125 DEB passes over latitudes between 55.3°N and 55.3°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 12,358 active satellites in total.