ARIANE 3 DEB

ARIANE 3 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 1988-09-08 from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou on the Gstar 3 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 1,085 km and 36,507 km with an inclination of 6.4°. It travels at approximately 14,327 km/h (3.98 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 3 minutes — that’s roughly 2.17 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7037 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, ARIANE 3 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 3 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 18,796 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 3 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 11 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 6.4°, ARIANE 3 DEB passes over latitudes between 6.4°N and 6.4°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.