SCOUT B DEB

SCOUT B DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1966-08-04 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the OV3-3 launch. After more than 60 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 401 km and 2,571 km with an inclination of 81.4°. It travels at approximately 25,641 km/h (7.12 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.45 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1381 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, SCOUT B 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.

SCOUT B DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,486 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 SCOUT B DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 404 active payloads and 405 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 81.4°, SCOUT B DEB passes over latitudes between 81.4°N and 81.4°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. United States operates approximately 13,342 active satellites in total, of which 14 share a similar altitude band with SCOUT B DEB.