TITAN 34B AGENA D DEB

TITAN 34B AGENA D DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1983-07-31 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the Jumpseat 7 launch. With over 43 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 477 km and 36,688 km with an inclination of 63.5°. It travels at approximately 14,388 km/h (4.00 km/s), completing one full orbit every 10 hours 54 minutes — that’s roughly 2.20 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7256 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, TITAN 34B AGENA D 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.

TITAN 34B AGENA D DEB orbits at an average altitude of 18,583 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 TITAN 34B AGENA D DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 16 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 63.5°, TITAN 34B AGENA D DEB passes over latitudes between 63.5°N and 63.5°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.