DIAMANT R/B

DIAMANT R/B is a spent rocket body associated with France, launched on 1967-02-08 from Hammaguir, Algeria on the Diademe D-1C launch. After more than 59 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 538 km and 1,011 km with an inclination of 40.0°. It travels at approximately 26,888 km/h (7.47 km/s), completing one full orbit every 100 minutes — that’s roughly 14.35 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~25–100 years. Spent rocket bodies like DIAMANT R/B are among the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris and are priority targets for collision avoidance manoeuvres and future active debris removal efforts.

DIAMANT R/B orbits at an average altitude of 775 km in the mid-LEO band, where atmospheric drag is minimal but radiation exposure remains manageable. Objects at this altitude persist for decades to centuries, making debris mitigation critical. This regime is popular for remote sensing constellations and scientific instruments that need stable, long-duration orbits. Within ±50 km of DIAMANT R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 444 active payloads and 2,331 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0455. With an inclination of 40.0°, DIAMANT R/B passes over latitudes between 40.0°N and 40.0°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. France operates approximately 124 active satellites in total, of which 3 share a similar altitude band with DIAMANT R/B.