THORAD DELTA 1 DEB

THORAD DELTA 1 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1974-11-15 from Vandenberg SFB, California. After more than 52 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 1,229 km and 1,514 km with an inclination of 102.1°. It travels at approximately 25,830 km/h (7.18 km/s), completing one full orbit every 113 minutes — that’s roughly 12.73 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, THORAD DELTA 1 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.

THORAD DELTA 1 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,372 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 THORAD DELTA 1 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 166 active payloads and 149 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 102.1°, THORAD DELTA 1 DEB passes over latitudes between 102.1°N and 102.1°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 12,261 active satellites in total, of which 4 share a similar altitude band with THORAD DELTA 1 DEB.