PEGASUS DEB

PEGASUS DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1994-05-19 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the STEP 2 launch. With over 32 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 514 km and 600 km with an inclination of 81.9°. It travels at approximately 27,307 km/h (7.59 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 15.03 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. As orbital debris, PEGASUS 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.

PEGASUS DEB orbits at an average altitude of 557 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 PEGASUS DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 3,292 active payloads and 399 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1276, ONEWEB-0050. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 18.9% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 81.9°, PEGASUS DEB passes over latitudes between 81.9°N and 81.9°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 12,358 active satellites in total, of which 2,718 share a similar altitude band with PEGASUS DEB.