BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)

BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 2012-03-25 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on the Intelsat IS-22 launch. After 14 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 379 km and 13,977 km with an inclination of 50.7°. It travels at approximately 19,526 km/h (5.42 km/s), completing one full orbit every 4 hours 22 minutes — that’s roughly 5.50 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5018 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) 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.

BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) orbits at an average altitude of 7,178 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 BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 6 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 50.7°, BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) passes over latitudes between 50.7°N and 50.7°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,285 active satellites in total.