ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA)

ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA) is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 2008-12-20 from Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana on the Hot Bird 9 launch. After 18 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 268 km and 19,262 km with an inclination of 4.5°. It travels at approximately 17,893 km/h (4.97 km/s), completing one full orbit every 5 hours 40 minutes — that’s roughly 4.23 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5886 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA) 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 5 DEB (SYLDA) orbits at an average altitude of 9,765 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 5 DEB (SYLDA)’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 21 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 4.5°, ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA) passes over latitudes between 4.5°N and 4.5°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. France operates approximately 124 active satellites in total.