DELTA 1 DEB

DELTA 1 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1968-07-04 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the RAE A launch. After more than 58 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 802 km and 3,677 km with an inclination of 120.7°. It travels at approximately 24,494 km/h (6.80 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours 13 minutes — that’s roughly 10.85 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1669 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, DELTA 1 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.

DELTA 1 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 2,240 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 DELTA 1 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 13 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 120.7°, DELTA 1 DEB passes over latitudes between 120.7°N and 120.7°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 12,358 active satellites in total.