ISO DEB

ISO DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to ESA (European Space Agency), launched on 1995-11-17 from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou on the ISO launch. With over 31 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 1,023 km and 70,633 km with an inclination of 3.8°. It travels at approximately 11,064 km/h (3.07 km/s), completing one full orbit every ~24 hours (geosynchronous) — that’s roughly 1.00 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.8248 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At geostationary altitude, there is no meaningful atmospheric drag — this object will remain in orbit indefinitely unless actively deorbited. As orbital debris, ISO 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.

ISO DEB follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 1,023 km (perigee) and 70,633 km (apogee). It spends most of its ~24 hours (geosynchronous) orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. Within ±50 km of ISO DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 693 active payloads and 62 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ASTRA 1N, GOES 16, TDRS 13. With an inclination of 3.8°, ISO DEB passes over latitudes between 3.8°N and 3.8°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. ESA (European Space Agency) operates approximately 93 active satellites in total, of which 2 share a similar altitude band with ISO DEB.