SATCOM 3 DEB

SATCOM 3 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1979-12-07 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the RCA-C launch. With over 47 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 8,238 km and 35,549 km with an inclination of 9.6°. It travels at approximately 13,519 km/h (3.76 km/s), completing one full orbit every 13 hours 8 minutes — that’s roughly 1.83 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4831 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, SATCOM 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.

SATCOM 3 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 21,894 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 SATCOM 3 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 19 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 9.6°, SATCOM 3 DEB passes over latitudes between 9.6°N and 9.6°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 12,358 active satellites in total.