DIAMANT DEB

DIAMANT DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 1967-02-15 from Hammaguir, Algeria on the Diademe D-1D 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 545 km and 1,176 km with an inclination of 40.0°. It travels at approximately 26,727 km/h (7.42 km/s), completing one full orbit every 102 minutes — that’s roughly 14.10 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~100–500 years. As orbital debris, DIAMANT 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.

DIAMANT DEB orbits at an average altitude of 861 km in the upper LEO band, where atmospheric drag is negligible and objects can persist for centuries to millennia. This altitude is used by broadband constellations like OneWeb and by scientific missions requiring stable orbits far from the densest debris bands. Within ±50 km of DIAMANT DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 282 active payloads and 2,140 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include NOAA 20, ONEWEB-0455. With an inclination of 40.0°, DIAMANT DEB 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 2 share a similar altitude band with DIAMANT DEB.