CZ-3A DEB

CZ-3A DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to China, launched on 2007-02-02 from Xichang, China on the di si ke beidou daohang launch. After 19 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 530 km and 45,450 km with an inclination of 27.3°. It travels at approximately 13,264 km/h (3.68 km/s), completing one full orbit every 13 hours 55 minutes — that’s roughly 1.73 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7650 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, CZ-3A 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.

CZ-3A DEB follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 530 km (perigee) and 45,450 km (apogee). It spends most of its 13 hours 55 minutes orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. Within ±50 km of CZ-3A DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 3 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 27.3°, CZ-3A DEB passes over latitudes between 27.3°N and 27.3°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. China operates approximately 1,218 active satellites in total.