ARIANE 44LP DEB

ARIANE 44LP DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 1988-12-11 from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou on the Skynet 4B launch. With over 38 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 449 km and 29,467 km with an inclination of 7.2°. It travels at approximately 15,563 km/h (4.32 km/s), completing one full orbit every 8 hours 37 minutes — that’s roughly 2.79 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6802 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, ARIANE 44LP 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.

ARIANE 44LP DEB orbits at an average altitude of 14,958 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 ARIANE 44LP DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 7 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 7.2°, ARIANE 44LP DEB passes over latitudes between 7.2°N and 7.2°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. France operates approximately 115 active satellites in total.