NOAA 16 DEB

NOAA 16 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 2000-09-21 from Vandenberg SFB, California. With over 26 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 554 km and 562 km with an inclination of 99.0°. It travels at approximately 27,305 km/h (7.58 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 15.03 orbits per day. Its near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit means it passes over any given point on Earth at approximately the same local solar time, ideal for consistent Earth observation lighting conditions. Its near-circular orbit (eccentricity close to zero) means it maintains a very consistent altitude throughout each revolution. It is part of the Weather constellation group. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. As orbital debris, NOAA 16 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.

NOAA 16 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 558 km in a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), a specialised subset of LEO where the orbital plane precesses to maintain a constant angle relative to the Sun. This provides consistent lighting conditions on every pass — essential for Earth observation, weather monitoring and environmental science. Within ±50 km of NOAA 16 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 3,296 active payloads and 406 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1276, ONEWEB-0050. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 18.9% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 99.0°, NOAA 16 DEB passes over latitudes between 99.0°N and 99.0°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 12,339 active satellites in total, of which 2,733 share a similar altitude band with NOAA 16 DEB.