OPS 7684 DEB

OPS 7684 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1968-12-12 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the CORONA J-50 launch. After more than 58 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 1,373 km and 1,507 km with an inclination of 80.5°. It travels at approximately 25,717 km/h (7.14 km/s), completing one full orbit every 115 minutes — that’s roughly 12.56 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, OPS 7684 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.

OPS 7684 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,440 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of OPS 7684 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 507 active payloads and 312 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 80.5°, OPS 7684 DEB passes over latitudes between 80.5°N and 80.5°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 13,198 active satellites in total, of which 18 share a similar altitude band with OPS 7684 DEB.